LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Workers from five Louisville Starbucks locations joined the picket line on Christmas Eve, as part of a nationwide strike.

The Starbucks Workers United Union Strike began Friday in Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago. The strike spread across the country to include New York, Philadelphia and Saint Louis. The union said it represents more than 10,000 baristas at 525 locations.

The union is asking the company to raise the starting pay for baristas to $20 an hour, while corporate officials have yet to meet their demands.

The Louisville area locations on strike include Baxter Avenue, Bardstown and Heather, Factory Lane, Central and 3rd and Holiday Manor.

“I believe, right now on the union side, we’re asking that baristas get paid $20 an hour for the work that they do, and then shift managers like myself make probably like $24 an hour,” said Tamera Bell, a Starbucks supervisor and union bargaining delegate in Louisville.

The company has countered with a proposed 1.5% raise, which Bell criticized as insufficient.

“I believe it equates to probably like $0.60. And it’s like, in essence, $0.60 on top of, like making for a barista $15 an hour. So you’re just adding $15 and then the $0.60,” she explained.

The union said it wants wage increases and fair benefits. It said there has been a lack in progress in contract negotiations with Starbucks, but the company said demands are not sustainable.

More than 300 Starbucks stores across the country remained closed on Tuesday due to employee picketing. Locally, the work stoppage affected five unionized stores, where employees left their holiday coffee cups behind to pick up picket signs. Bell said she was not aware of any employees crossing the picket line.

“One would hope so. Because they’ve come this far. They agreed to sit down with us to meet at the table the first time. And we were supposed to finish a contract within this year,” Bell said.

The union claims Starbucks has been largely unresponsive to their demands.

“Thus far, they’ve been really silent,” she said. “They did put out a video on Instagram, a very little delightful video, with a mom and child going to Starbucks to get a cake pop. And that was it. So I’m like, oh, OK, no answer, no anything.”

Bell noted that while management initially resisted unionization efforts, they have gradually accepted the union’s presence. However, talks between Starbucks Workers United and the company have stalled at the national level, particularly over wage increases.

With no immediate resolution in sight, union members in Louisville and across the country continue to press for higher wages and a fair contract.

The strike comes at one of the busiest times of the year for Starbucks. But the company said Monday it has had “no significant impact” on its store operations.

Starbucks has around 10,000 company-operated stores in the U.S.

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