AUGUSTA, GA ( WJBF) – A usually busy Starbucks in the Augusta Exchange closed Tuesday as employees went on strike.

“Them not meeting our demands yesterday or even listening to what we had to say I have no other choice,” Jaysin Saxton said.

Jaysin Saxton, lead organizer of the strike said since the store unionized in April they’ve been treated unfairly, had hours cut and haven’t received all of the benefits they are supposed to be granted in a union.

“It genuinely feels like they are trying to deny us our availability request, our time off request, our transfer request in order to push us out or push us to either quit or get fired,” Saxton said.

Some employees said they’ve seen their hours cut significantly.

“It upsets me, and it hurts because I want to work. I want to come here and work and do this job. I really enjoy it,” Traye Ivey said.

Ivey said the reduced hours make it hard to make ends meet.

“I’m literally not buying food and not doing anything else to make sure that I have enough for rent and that’s still not guaranteed with the amount of hours that I’m making,” Ivey said.

Saxton said they’ve taken their concerns to management with a ‘ March on the boss’ Monday, but still feels they weren’t heard.

Starbucks released a statement Tuesday which states:

“Starbucks has great partners and we value their contributions. We respect our partners’ legal right to engage in activity or protest without retaliation. We are grateful for each partner who offered to work today and are doing our best to listen to the concerns of all our partners.”