Macy's workers and union activists hold a demonstration outside of the retailer's flagship store at Herald Square in Manhattan on June 2, 2016 in New York City.

About 5,000 Macy's workers at five New York stores, including the chain's Herald Square flagship, plan to walk off the job on Wednesday. The employees voted to authorize a strike earlier this month after their contract negotiations stalled, according to officials from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Their old contract expired May 1.

"As the largest department store in the country, the Macy's contract sets standards for retail workers throughout the industry," RWDSU President Stuart Applebaum told BuzzFeed News. "People come to New York for the Macy's experience. The brand comes from the Herald Square store, and it impacts everything Macy's does around the country, including online sales."

The Macy's employees, unionized with the RWDSU Local 1-S chapter, will walk out over the increasing cost of healthcare benefits, changes to pay structure, and new holiday work requirements, according to union officials. New policies allowing more returns from customers have reduced their pay from commissions, The New York Times reported today.

"Any discussions for calls to strike by the union are an expected and standard part of the negotiation process," Macy's said in a statement to the New York Daily News. Over the weekend, Macy's began running print advertisements for replacement workers — a move the union movement did not react kindly to.