As many as 150 Starbucks locations across the United States began striking on Friday, blasting the company’s “performative progressivism” and how it “tokenizes queer & trans workers.”

“Starbucks tokenizes queer & trans workers and uses us for positive PR & profit, but they don’t want to listen to us. Enough of the performative progressivism – we demand Starbucks come to the table to bargain a contract that legally GUARANTEES our rights,” the Starbucks Workers Union’s official Twitter account blared on Friday afternoon.

Among the group’s demands include “consistent hours” so that LGBT employees can access corporate healthcare benefits “including gender affirming care,” alongside a demand that “all cafes should have gender neutral bathrooms.”

“A company that ‘cares’ about queer & trans workers doesn’t intimidate & threaten them,” the union argued. The ongoing strike reportedly includes as many as 3,500 employees.

The actions were sparked following several reports that coffee stores across the country were muting or outright banning the display of the rainbow flag in stores. The union alleged that Starbucks was “taking a cue from Target, who bowed to anti-LGBTQ+ pressure and removed pride merchandise, corporate and district management are taking down the pride decorations that have become an annual tradition in stores.”

However, executives, including chief executive Laxman Narasimhan and Sara Trilling, President of Starbucks North America, have rejected such arguments. “We want to be crystal clear – Starbucks has been and will continue to be at the forefront of supporting the LGBTQIA2+ community, and we will not waver in that commitment!” the two wrote in a joint statement responding to the strike and the accusations.

“Despite today’s public commentary, there has been no change to any of our policies as it relates to our inclusive store environments, our company culture and the benefits we offer our partners. We continue to encourage our store leaders to celebrate with their communities including for U.S. Pride month in June, as we always have,” Trilling continued.

In mid June, a New Jersey jury awarded a former Starbucks regional director $25.6 million in damages after she was forced to fire a white manager for calling the police on two black men sitting in a Philadelphia coffee shop in April 2018. Both had repeatedly refused to leave the premises or make a purchase.

The ensuing public backlash led Starbucks to pressure the director to fire the manager and offer the men a settlement, including free post-secondary education. In the court case, the former regional director’s legal team alleged that Starbucks was seeking to “punish white employees” in order to placate and “convince the community that it had properly responded to the incident.”