Some Starbucks workers on Long Island went on strike Wednesday as part of a nationwide effort.

Workers walked off the job to highlight their push to unionize and to make other demands.

There are five locations on Long Island that are unionized, including Farmingville, Massapequa, Westbury, Lynbrook and Wantagh.

Workers say the wages they are being paid are barely enough to survive on.

"Living on Long Island is not cheap," said Brendan Lopez, an employee at the Farmingdale Starbucks. "I'm barely making enough to make ends meet to even feed myself at this point."

Sam Cornetta, who works at the Farmingville location, says the company took away a lot of benefits put in place to protect employees.

The workers want to see the stores fully staffed, and for employees to be given a seat at the table to negotiate a fair contract.

Close to 300 of the companies 9,000 stores have unionized and more around the country continue to hold elections.

Efforts to unionize have been met with resistance by Starbucks executives and has resulted in The National Labor Review Board investigating complaints of illegal union busting tactics.

Wednesday's strike coincides with Starbucks Founders Day celebrations. The outgoing CEO and founder Howard Schultz has criticized unionization efforts in the past saying they don't have a place at Starbucks.

The company denies any wrongdoing, saying in a statement that it respects employees' right to strike but countered claims made by Workers United, stating hourly employees are offered a competitive wage, benefits, tuition reimbursement and 401(k) matching.