Local Starbucks employees joined a nationwide effort this week to put financial pressure on the company following a series of unsuccessful labor negotiations.

In what the union has dubbed "The Strike Before Christmas," more than 5,000 workers are walking out of 300-plus Starbucks locations nationwide Tuesday.

Starbucks baristas' fast-growing unfair labor practice strike is expected to hit historic levels Tuesday as hundreds of stores nationwide prepare to join walkouts at the coffee giant. The Starbucks Workers United strike,

Starbucks baristas shut down the store at LaPorte Avenue and Silhavy Road in Valparaiso at noon on Christmas Eve in an attempt to bring the coffee behemoth to recognize the only unionized store in

The Christmas Eve strike downtown came after 98% of national Starbucks Workers United members voted on Dec. 17 to authorize a strike "if necessary."

More than 5,000 workers were expected to take part in walkout that ends later on Christmas Eve, their union says.

Workers at more than a dozen Chicago area Starbucks were on strike Christmas Eve, union organizers said, as baristas escalated a national walkout that began in three cities, including Chicago, on Friday.