Red Cup Day is one of Starbucks’ busiest days of the year, with thousands of customers seeking the free reusable cup for their holiday drink, like a peppermint mocha.

Those seeking to get in on the action at stores in Greater Boston on Thursday, however, came away empty handed.

Baristas shut down stores in Allston, Brighton, Newton, Worcester and Gardner as part of the Red Cup Rebellion, a nationwide movement demanding the coffee giant stop refusing to bargain over staffing, scheduling and other issues.

“People go crazy for these red cups, but they do not staff us appropriately,” said Kaid Goodrich, a barista at the Allston Starbucks. “Like this morning, we had scheduled two people to open and be open by themselves until 7 a.m. … You need a lot more people, certainly more than two.”

Goodrich and her colleagues joined more than 5,000 workers taking part in the Red Cup Rebellion at 200-plus Starbucks across the country, the largest strike yet in the two-year-old effort to unionize the company’s stores, organizers said.

Starbucks expected to give away tens of thousands of reusable cups to customers who ordered holiday drinks.

The Allston location unionized in early 2022, and Goodrich told the Herald that since being hired at the store last November, no progress has been made with corporate in negotiating a contract.

The National Labor Relations Board is prosecuting Starbucks at an ongoing trial in Seattle over this refusal to bargain. Regional offices with the National Labor Relations Board have issued 111 complaints against the company.

Workers earlier this fall filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board over Starbucks’ refusal to bargain around promotion days, according to Starbucks Workers United.

Thursday’s strike was the fifth major labor action by Starbucks workers since a store in Buffalo, New York, became the first to unionize in late 2021.

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But the strikes have had little impact on Starbucks’ sales. For its 2023 fiscal year, which ended Oct. 1, Starbucks reported its revenue rose 12%, to a record $36 billion.

Starbucks said Thursday that many of the stores with striking workers remained open, staffed by supervisors, managers and employees who chose not to strike or visited from nearby stores to pick up additional hours.

“We have nearly 10,000 stores open right now delighting our customers with the joy of Red Cup Day,” the company said.

Members from various unions including Teamsters, Boston Teachers, and United Food and Commercial Workers, rallied in solidarity with employees at the Allston location.

“We are one big union family, and we are showing workers in every industry deserve dignity, respect, wages and career pathways,” said Darlene Lombos, principal officer of the Greater Boston Labor Council.

Employees at the Starbucks in Cleveland Circle can only work 30 hours a week and shifts of no more than 5 hours, said Mia Hoyos Murray, a barista who joined the store in July 2022.

She and her colleagues, making roughly $18 per hour, were forced to work at other area stores for five months earlier this year due to a plumbing issue. Upon their return in August, the store lacked product and equipment, Hoyos Murray told the Herald.

“We are kind of starting to rebuild,” she said. “It’s been stressful mostly because we are really understaffed like every other store, we still don’t have a contract, and they still won’t bargain.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Thursday’s strike was the fifth major labor action by Starbucks workers since a store in Buffalo, New York, became the first to unionize in late 2021. (Amanda Sabga/Boston Herald)