Pharmacists from Walgreens are planning a potential nationwide walkout at the end of October over working conditions. They are also in discussion with other pharmacies to join them in the walkout.
This has been an issue for a number of years for employees who are frustrated with being understaffed and overworked. Since the pandemic, staff has also taken on the responsibility of covid vaccines and testing which have contributed to worker burnout.
Pharmacy staff from Walgreens are laying the groundwork for a nationwide walkout and multiple rallies at the end 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, which are still in the planning stages, reflect the growing discontent among retail pharmacy staff, who have 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 new duties like testing and vaccination stretched pharmacists and technicians even thinner.
Those frustrations came to a head in recent weeks, as some pharmacy staff from Walgreens locations around the country and CVS stores in 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 most active years for the labor movement in recent U.S. history.
A Walgreens organizer, an employee of the chain who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said the walkouts are scheduled for Oct. 30 to Nov. 1. Another 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.
Earlier this month, The Gateway Pundit reported about Kaiser Permanente Healthcare workers going on strike.
75,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers in California, Virginia, and three other states went on strike in early October over staffing shortages.
The three-day walkout involves nurses, technicians, pharmacists and support staff.
Healthcare workers are striking over wage increases, nationwide minimum wage, health benefits, retirement plans, and tuition assistance programs.
This is a developing story and the healthcare workers reached a tentative deal.
Kaiser Permanente and labor unions reached a tentative deal Friday morning, a little more than a week after workers at the nation’s largest health care nonprofit organization went on strike.
The three-day walkout was the largest work stoppage of health care workers in U.S. history, according to the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.