These walkouts, over unresolved unfair labor practice charges and the company's failure to offer a serious economic package, are just the beginning," Fluhr wrote in an op-ed that ran in Fast Company last week. ????? ???????

She said the store's routine slashing of employee hours meant that she was at risk of being unable to pay her bills -- and of losing access to health care, including her daughter's insulin. ????????????  

"The holiday season should be magical at Starbucks, but for too many of us, there's a darker side to the peppermint mochas and gingerbread lattes," said Arloa Fluhr, a bargaining delegate from Illinois who has worked off and on at Starbucks for 18 years, as part of a statement for Workers United. ?????  

The union said that five days of escalating strikes would continue until Dec. 24 during what it called the company's busiest days of the year. ????? ???????  

Workers United, which has unionized more than 525 Starbucks locations across the United States, said in a press release Thursday that unfair labor practices and stalled negotiations with the company are the catalyst behind the holiday season strike. ????????????