Employees from five stores in Southern California are participating in the strike, including a location in Lakewood, which was among the first stores in California to unionize.
Workers in downtown L.A., Long Beach and Anaheim are also participating.
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The walkouts coincide with Starbucks' annual Red Cup Day, when the company gives free reusable cups to customers who order a holiday drink. Workers say it's often one of the busiest days of the year. Starbucks declined to say how many red cups it plans to distribute.
"Well, they really didn't even try to listen to us as much as we wanted to, like, 'Hey, this is a pack of what we want to talk about,'" said Wyatt Valerie Garcia with Starbucks Workers United, who was joined by others at a strike rally in Lakewood. "We very much got a very minimal excuse of the reason why they wouldn't negotiate with us so we just tried our best to make sure they kept the contract we had drawn up so they can have it and at least say they had it."
Workers say they're seeking better pay, more consistent schedules and higher staffing levels in busy stores.
Stores in 25 states planned to take part in the labor action, according to Starbucks Workers United, the group organizing the effort. Strikers are handing out their own red cups with union logos.
Starbucks, which opposes the unionization effort, said it is aware of the walkouts and respects its employees' right to lawfully protest.
The Seattle company noted that the protests are happening at a small number of its 9,000 company-run U.S. locations.
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"We remain committed to all partners and will continue to work together, side-by-side, to make Starbucks a company that works for everyone," the company said Thursday in a statement.
Some workers planned to picket all day while others will do shorter walkouts.
The union said the goal is to shut stores down during the strikes, and noted that the company usually has difficulty staffing during Red Cup Day because it's so busy.
At least 257 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late last year, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
Fifty-seven stores have held votes where workers opted not to unionize.
Starbucks and the union have begun contract talks at 53 stores, with 13 additional sessions scheduled, Starbucks Workers United said. No agreements have been reached so far.
The process has been contentious. Earlier this week, a regional director with the NLRB filed a request for an injunction against Starbucks in federal court, saying the company violated labor law when it fired a union organizer in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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The regional director asked the court to direct Starbucks to reinstate the employee and stop interfering in the unionization campaign nationwide.
It was the fourth time the NLRB has asked a federal court to intervene.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Starbucks had to reinstate seven union organizers who were fired in Memphis, Tennessee.
A similar case in Buffalo has yet to be decided, while a federal judge ruled against the NLRB in a case in Phoenix.
Meanwhile, Starbucks has asked the NLRB to temporarily suspend all union elections at its U.S. stores, citing allegations from a board employee that regional officials improperly coordinated with union organizers. A decision in that case is pending.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.