Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract.

Why are Amazon and Starbucks workers striking over the holidays? “This is a time when both companies make a lot of money,” one expert said.

Starbucks Workers United said it had voted to authorize a strike ahead of the year’s final scheduled bargaining session. In a post on the social platform X, the union said 98 percent of its baristas voted to authorize a strike if necessary.