A Starbucks in south Eugene has become the first Oregon location to join a nationwide movement by petitioning to become unionized with the National Labor Relations Board.

Ky Fireside, a barista, helped organize and collect support signatures for unionizing from 23 of the 25 workers at the Starbucks on Willamette Street near the intersection of East 29th Avenue. She said the main motivation was hearing of the perils of workers trying to unionize in Buffalo, New York, and the inability to contact higher-up management.

"Our position hasn't changed: Starbucks success — past, present and future — is built on how we partner together, always with our mission and values at our core," a Starbucks spokesperson said in a request for comment.

Starbucks has insisted during previous unionization attempts that its more than 8,000 company-owned U.S. stores function best when Starbucks works directly with its employees, which it calls "partners."

"We have this issue where Starbucks calls us partners, but we have no voice," Fireside said. "We have no say. There is not an avenue for someone like me to even be in contact with anybody at any sort of executive level or really anybody above the district manager level."

Fireside said she and co-workers were inspired by the movement that began in Buffalo last month, where Fireside said workers were hit with union-busting tactics upon filing to unionize.

First U.S. store: Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, votes to unionize

"Our first motivation was just seeing how poorly they treated our partners in Buffalo," Fireside said.

Fireside emphasized that the store itself is well-run, and said their manager is "fantastic," adding that the problem was more so the poor relationship with the corporate level and difficulty with reaching higher-ups, and not anything to do with the Eugene store itself.

Next, Fireside said Starbucks would have to either voluntarily recognize them as a union with Workers United, or, if it doesn't, to find a date to have a formal vote on whether to be unionized and figure out who is eligible to participate.

A company spokesperson said it intends to follow the formal NLRB voting process in Eugene, saying, "Given this decision would impact all partners in the region, we want to advocate for all our partners to have a right to vote."

In a December statement, Starbucks North America President Rossann Williams said "from the beginning, we've been clear in our belief that we do not want a union between us as partners, and that conviction has not changed."

"However, we have also said that we respect the legal process," Williams said. "This means we will bargain in good faith with the union that represents partners in the one Buffalo store that voted in favor of union representation."

Outside of Eugene, Seattle is the only other city on the West Coast to have a Starbucks location pushing for unionization, Fireside said.

The next step for the petition will be a legal hearing Jan. 28, Fireside said, where the NLRB will establish working conditions and hear from baristas.

Louis Krauss covers breaking news for The Register-Guard. Contact him at lkrauss@registerguard.com, and follow him on Twitter @LouisKraussNews.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Eugene Starbucks first in state to petition for union status