BUFFALO, N.Y. — Three Western New York Starbucks stores are currently voting on whether their individual stores will unionize.

Votes are due to the National Labor Relation Board next Wednesday and the count will happen the following day.

"In spite of everything that corporation has done in the last three months to try and destroy this union campaign, we are still completely confident that come next Thursday, we will have the first unionized Starbucks out of almost 9,000 in the United States," Starbucks Workers United Organizing Committee Member Michelle Eisen said.

Meanwhile, three more locations in Western New York will be in front of the NLRB this Wednesday for a hearing as they continue to petition for their own right to vote.

"We're not stopping,” Angel Krempa, another organizing committee member, said. “We're going to keep going, and this is just three more stores and we're not the only ones. Everyone's going to continue to look around at their partners and their co-workers and see that this is only beginning."

The organizing workers got another high-profile supporter this week, speaking with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders about the effort. They already have the backing of New York lawmakers Kirsten Gillibrand and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

"What we really need from them is to put the pressure on Starbucks once we win, to get to the bargaining table as quickly as possible and allow us to negotiate a fair contract," Eisen said.

Although they remain confident, workers say the company continues to employ intimidation and union-busting tactics, including sending high-level executives to stores, and trying to flood the stores pushing to unionize with new employees.

"The company certainly has not been shy about telling people to get those votes in and make sure they check the ‘no’ box, so if it's just based on their continual text messages, and email and mail, I would say that they're certainly trying to do their best to make sure every ‘no’ vote gets put in there," Eisen said.

Krempa said community support continues to be very important to the effort.

The company has repeatedly denied claims of intimidation, officially only referring us to a letter the North American president sent to employees in October, in which the company acknowledged their right to organize but argued it would fundamentally change employees’ direct relationship with Starbucks.