A girl walks near a Walgreens pharmacy on March 09, 2023 in Latest York City.
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Pharmacy staff from Walgreens are laying the groundwork for a nationwide walkout and multiple rallies at the top of October to protest unsatisfactory working conditions, and are in talks with employees from other retail pharmacies about joining them, CNBC has learned.
Those efforts, that are still within the planning stages, reflect the growing discontent amongst retail pharmacy staff, who’ve complained for years about having to grapple with understaffed teams and increasing work expectations imposed by corporate management. The Covid pandemic only exacerbated those issues, as latest duties like testing and vaccination stretched pharmacists and technicians even thinner.
Those frustrations got here to a head in recent weeks, as some pharmacy staff from Walgreens locations across the country and CVS stores within the Kansas City area engaged in separate walkouts. Those demonstrations – and the planning for a broader work stoppage – add to what has been one of the crucial energetic years for the labor movement in recent U.S. history.
A Walgreens organizer, an worker of the chain who asked to stay anonymous for fear of retaliation, said the walkouts are scheduled for Oct. 30 to Nov. 1. One other organizer named Shane Jerominski, an independent pharmacist who used to work for Walgreens, confirmed those dates. Jerominski is a pharmacy labor advocate who has been actively involved in organizing recent walkouts.
The Walgreens organizer said they’ve been in talks with pharmacy staff from other retail chains about participating within the group walkout. The person sees nationwide walkouts across several retail pharmacy chains because the “next step” within the fight against current working conditions.
A Walgreens spokesperson redirected CNBC to the corporate’s earlier statement in response to the walkouts pharmacy staff held this week.
The spokesperson touted the corporate’s pharmacy teams in that statement, noting that they work “tirelessly to serve our communities” at nearly 9,000 store locations across the U.S. The spokesperson also acknowledged that the “previous couple of years have required an unprecedented effort from our team members.”
Walgreens is engaged and listening to the concerns of pharmacy staff, the spokesperson said within the statement. Particularly, the corporate said it has been making significant investments in wages and hiring bonuses with the intention to retain pharmacists in hard-to-staff locations.
Walgreens pharmacists make $57.45 an hour on average, based on employment website Indeed. The corporate has greater than 86,000 health-care service providers, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other health-related professionals.
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians work under the corporate’s U.S. retail pharmacy segment. That division contributes the most sales by far of its business segments, raking in $110 billion in fiscal yr 2023.
A CVS worker, who was the major organizer of the Kansas City area walkouts, confirmed that they’ve been in touch with the Walgreens organizer about getting the CVS pharmacy staff they represent to affix the nationwide effort. That worker, who also asked to stay anonymous for fear of retribution, represents CVS pharmacists and pharmacy technicians within the Kansas City area.
However the CVS worker said whether those employees join will rely on the final result of a gathering the person has with Prem Shah, the corporate’s chief pharmacy officer and president of pharmacy and consumer wellness, on Friday.
During that meeting, the worker will assess what CVS has done up to now to execute a series of changes it committed to – including adding staff and paid additional time – after the Kansas City area walkouts ended last month.
The CVS worker said if the meeting goes poorly, the person will reach out to the Walgreens organizer and tell them that the pharmacy staff they represent will probably be “100% behind” the nationwide walkout effort.
A CVS spokesperson said the corporate is “not seeing any unusual activity” regarding unplanned pharmacy closures or pharmacist walkouts. The spokesperson added that the corporate is working with pharmacists to directly address any concerns they might need.
Pharmacy staff participating within the nationwide effort would also hold demonstrations outside the stores that employees walk out of, based on the individuals who spoke to CNBC.
Jerominksi said organizers are planning to carry rallies in areas that can see the “largest scale” of participation within the walkout, but no specific store locations have been finalized. He added that rallies were the largest thing that was missing from the recent Walgreens and CVS walkouts.
Along with those rallies and the walkouts, Jerominski and the Walgreens organizer said they’re considering pushing for unionization for pharmacy staff not currently represented by one. The overwhelming majority of pharmacists and technicians from Walgreens and CVS don’t have any union representation, while pharmacy staff from a handful of grocery retailers reminiscent of Kroger do, based on Jerominski.
Organizers are in talks with multiple existing unions, but there isn’t a concrete agreement yet, based on Jerominski. He said the organizations include IAM Healthcare, a union representing hundreds of pros within the health-care industry, and the United Food and Business Employees International Union, which represents food, retail and health-care employees across the U.S. and Canada.
IAM Healthcare didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. UFCW directed CNBC to a statement released Thursday in support of the recent walkouts staged by Walgreens and CVS pharmacy staff.
Essential concerns of pharmacy staff
Retail pharmacy staff are concerned that firms like Walgreens and CVS are placing unreasonable demands on employees, without providing enough staffing or resources for them to securely and responsibly execute tasks reminiscent of filling prescriptions. The staff believes those working conditions ultimately put patients susceptible to serious harm.
“What we’re doing in our stores will not be secure for our customers,” the CVS worker told CNBC. “Improve our working conditions so we are able to improve the security and the boldness of our customers that come into our stores.”
Along with filling and verifying prescriptions, pharmacy employees often should juggle patient phone calls, administer a growing variety of vaccines, work with insurance firms on issues reminiscent of copays and reimbursements, perform rapid Covid and flu testing and take care of frustrated customers who’re seeing longer wait times because of understaffing.
Latest vaccine COMIRNATY® (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA) by Pfizer, available at CVS Pharmacy in Eagle Rock, CA.
Irfan Khan | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
One Walgreens pharmacy technician in Minnesota, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, likened work shifts to running a marathon. They told CNBC that pharmacy staff at all times go home “completely overworked and exhausted” after a day of juggling dozens of various tasks.
Walgreens pharmacy employees are asking the corporate to supply more transparency around how staff hours are assigned to stores, dedicate training time for every latest hire and allocate job tasks in a way that matches the staffing levels of a given store location, based on the Walgreens organizer.
Currently, the corporate sets task expectations based on the variety of team members each pharmacy must have as a substitute of how much staff the locations even have, the organizer said.
Walgreens said it doesn’t set task-based metrics for staff, noting that the corporate eliminated it last yr.
Pharmacy staff across different chains are also hoping that company management can address their concerns in a more timely fashion, Jerominski said.
“Pharmacists are type of on an island where you do not feel much support,” Jerominski said. “It appears like yelling into the void. You would possibly call a supervisor or a district manager, but you may get a response every week later.”
A survey from last yr shows that pharmacy employees who bring complaints to management sometimes get little response. The survey, conducted by the American Pharmacists Association and the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, noted that there are “no open mechanisms” for pharmacists and other pharmacy staff to debate workplace issues with supervisors and management.
Vaccine appointments, tensions with customers
Some Walgreens pharmacy staff told CNBC that the rollout of recent vaccines this fall, including shots for Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus, has made their workload heavier than usual.
One pharmacist, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, said it’s difficult to handle the recent influx of vaccine appointments, especially since those respiratory virus shots all arrived within the U.S. around the identical time. The pharmacist described having appointments every 10 minutes, with some patients getting several shots without delay.
The pharmacist also described a recent work shift where they were the one immunizer on staff, which made it nearly unimaginable for them to fill prescriptions and complete other tasks.
Jerominski, the organizer and pharmacy labor advocate, claimed that immunizations have develop into a priority for Walgreens and CVS because the margins on vaccines are significantly higher than the common prescription.
An indication advertises COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccine shots at a Walgreens Pharmacy in Somerville, Massachusetts, August 14, 2023.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
One Walgreens pharmacist from Colorado, who also requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, also highlighted how staff increasingly should take care of frustrated customers.
That pharmacist said the dearth of staffing and resources at some locations can result in medication delays and errors or longer wait times for appointments, which sets employees up for negative interactions with patients.
The Colorado pharmacist said patients are “rightfully upset” when they cannot pick up critical medications in a fast and seamless way. But it could actually get emotionally taxing for workers when patients goal all of their anger and frustration on staff, the pharmacist said.
Patients can get aggressive and even violent in rare cases, and it is a “very long process” to get those customers banned from a store to guard employees, the Colorado pharmacist said.