{"id":36944,"date":"2023-10-07T16:56:55","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T20:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=36944"},"modified":"2023-10-07T16:57:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T20:57:00","slug":"your-pharmacy-might-be-closed-next-week-walgreens-walkout-planned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2023\/10\/07\/your-pharmacy-might-be-closed-next-week-walgreens-walkout-planned\/","title":{"rendered":"Your pharmacy might be closed next week Walgreens walkout planned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Employees at two of the largest drugstore chains in the United States say harsh working conditions make it difficult to safely fill prescriptions, which could put the health of their customers at risk. Now, they\u2019re demanding change by staging a series of walkouts across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pharmacy employees at some\u00a0Walgreens\u00a0stores, including pharmacists, technicians, and support staff, are planning a walkout between October 9-11<\/strong>, an organizer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from the chain, confirmed to CNN. Some employees plan to walk out for just one day, while others expect to shutter their pharmacies for all three days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employees at more than 500 of America\u2019s approximately 9,000 Walgreens stores across the United States have expressed interest and solidarity, a Walgreens pharmacy employee and walkout organizer said, though fewer will likely end up participating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN spoke to employees at three Walgreens stores in three states who said they plan on walking out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The planned action comes after pharmacy employees walked off the job at multiple CVS stores in the Kansas City area last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coordinated action at some Walgreens stores is in response to what pharmacy employees call burdensome prescription and vaccination expectations levied on pharmacists from corporate management, according to the organizer. As a result, employees often find themselves falling behind and dealing with angry customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company sets performance expectations based on the number of team members each pharmacy should have, said the pharmacy worker. However, in reality, staffing is much lower than that. At the same time, the worker said, they\u2019ve cut training hours for new technicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t believe that Walgreens is allowing us to give our patients safe care on a daily basis,\u201d the organizer explained. \u201cWalgreens isn\u2019t responding, they\u2019re not fixing those things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A representative from Walgreens said the company has increased training for new pharmacists but has put a pause on what it called \u201cnon-critical\u201d training during the busy immunization season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walgreens representatives also told CNN that there have never been corporate quotas and that all task-based metrics for retail pharmacy staff as part of team members\u2019 performance reviews were eliminated last year. The company said it has made $265 million in incremental investments in its nationwide pharmacy team this fiscal year and has created dedicated positions to manage inventory and administrative tasks for pharmacists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, one pharmacy employee who said staff at their store will participate in the walkout on Monday told CNN that they are expected and incentivized to administer more vaccines. \u201cI spend almost all of my day in the shot room, and if I\u2019m not in the shot room I\u2019m filling prescriptions because we\u2019re so behind,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere have been nights where I\u2019ve been on the verge of tears because of how hard it is,\u201d they said. \u201cI had a patient give me a fist bump and tell me I was doing a good job, and that meant so much to me. The patients are caring more about us than the employer is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another pharmacist told CNN that he expects his pharmacy to close during the planned walkout period and that he\u2019s heard from Walgreens pharmacists at 13 other stores in his state who are interested in participating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to do way more harm to people in 10 more years of operating like this than we would with a three-day walkout,\u201d the pharmacist said. \u201cIt\u2019s time to try something different. Every year we get the same promises and every year we get the same Band-Aid on the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement to CNN, Walgreens acknowledged that pharmacy employees were overworked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe last few years have required an unprecedented effort from our team members, and we share their pride in this work \u2014 while recognizing it has been a very challenging time,\u201d said Fraser Engerman, a communications director at Walgreens. \u201cWe also understand the immense pressures felt across the US in retail pharmacy right now. We are engaged and listening to the concerns raised by some of our team members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walgreens is \u201ccommitted to ensuring that our entire pharmacy team has the support and resources necessary to continue to provide the best care to our patients while taking care of their own well-being,\u201d added Engerman. \u201cWe are making significant investments in pharmacist wages and hiring bonuses to attract\/retain talent in harder to staff locations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walkouts at CVS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pharmacy employees of Walgreens and CVS and pharmacist advocates told CNN that their work has always been difficult, but the pandemic made things near impossible. Employees describe severe and chronic understaffing, low pay, high vaccination quotas, and long stretches without bathroom breaks, abusive management and violent customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by successful labor strikes across the country this year, they\u2019re saying enough is enough and organizing walkouts as part of what some labor advocates are calling \u201cpharmageddon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, CVS pharmacists shuttered as many as 22 pharmacies in two walkouts over two weeks in the Kansas City area in a planned protest, prompting executives from the Rhode Island-based retailer to meet with staff and assure that additional support and higher overtime pay were coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPharmacists are doing exactly what they\u2019ve been trained to do, which is evaluate the situation and take whatever action is necessary to ensure that they\u2019re providing the best patient care,\u201d said Michael Hogue, CEO of the American Pharmacists Association, who traveled to Kansas City to meet with CVS executives and walkout organizers this week. \u201cWe have a widespread problem in the US of inadequate staffing in community-based pharmacies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prem Shah, CVS\u2019s chief pharmacy officer and president of pharmacy and consumer wellness, issued an internal memo, reviewed by CNN, apologizing to his pharmacy teams for failing to address the concerns in the region more quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another meeting with Shah is planned for late next week, but no time or location has been set, a CVS walkout organizer told CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CVS representatives told CNN that no specific meeting has been arranged because executives don\u2019t see this as a \u201cone-time meeting or update,\u201d situation. \u201cIt\u2019s a continuous two-way dialogue to share how we\u2019re meeting the commitments we made to our teams and to continue to hear their direct feedback,\u201d said Amy Thibault, lead director of external communications for CVS Pharmacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re committed to providing access to consistent, safe, high-quality health care to the patients and communities we serve and are working with our pharmacists to directly address any concerns they may have,\u201d Thibault told CNN in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on developing a sustainable, scalable action plan that can be put in place in markets where support may be needed so we can continue delivering the high-quality care our patients depend on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lead organizer of the CVS walkouts in Kansas City told CNN that if there is no meeting this week there could be another round of labor action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A national movement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even a day without access to medication would be disastrous for Americans, said Amanda Applegate with the Kansas Pharmacists Association. \u201cBut making sure that you\u2019re getting those prescriptions out in a timely, efficient and safe manner is [why] pharmacists are walking out,\u201d she said. Pharmacists aren\u2019t demanding huge pay increases and vacation days, she added, they\u2019re asking for more help to get their jobs done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers walked off the job, citing similar problems and marking the largest health care worker strike in US history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pharmacist advocates believe that the walkouts will likely continue for some time. CVS and Walgreens pharmacists are not currently represented by a union and these efforts have been coordinated by individual workers. However, multiple sources told CNN that employees at CVS and Walgreens have recently been in touch with union groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Kansas City \u201chas been a tinderbox,\u201d said Applegate, these walkouts could have happened anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hard job on a good day. It\u2019s an incredibly rewarding job, but it\u2019s hard,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so the idea of pharmacists essentially being turned into ATMs in these environments, encouraging volume over quality, is why this is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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