‘Patients before profits’: Why Walgreens (and CVS) pharmacists are walking off the job
Pharmacists at Walgreens in four states staged a walkout on Monday, citing increasing staffing shortages and job duties, just weeks after CVS pharmacists walked off the job because of similar working conditions.
Just two weeks after dozens of CVS pharmacists walked off the job in Kansas City protesting unsafe working conditions, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians at Walgreens in four states followed suit on Monday to protest what some called understaffing and deteriorating working conditions.
Although Walgreens pharmacies in only Arizona, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington were affected, walkouts are expected to continue through Wednesday. One organizer posted on social media that the protests could spread to more than 500 locations in 49 states.
The walkouts were the latest of several job actions to affect the health-care industry in recent weeks. More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente employees stopped working for three days last week, demanding worker protections amid staffing shortages. In late September, CVS pharmacists in the Kansas City area walked out because of similar working conditions.
USA Today interviewed several Walgreens employees, who requested anonymity. They echoed concerns shared by CVS pharmacists. Among them, they said, the company places unreasonable demands on pharmacy workers without providing the staffing or resources to do their jobs safely or ethically. In addition to filling and verifying prescriptions, Walgreens pharmacists also must manage a large volume of patient calls; perform rapid flu and COVID-19 testing; work with insurance companies on such issues as approvals, co-pays and reimbursements; and provide an increasing number of vaccinations, including COVID-19, flu, pneumonia and shingles.
Staff are pressured to hit targets and disciplined for falling short, they said. As a result, corners are cut and medication errors are on the rise, putting patients at risk.
“We want patients before profits,” said the walkout organizer, who has worked for Walgreens for more than a decade. “The company has cut hours drastically while continuing to pile more work and new programs on top of us. Customers are not being taken care of. Our patients are not being cared for. It is not safe.”
Walgreens acknowledged that the last few years have been challenging for its staff and required an “unprecedented effort” to provide vaccines, fill prescriptions and perform health screenings during the pandemic.
Related: 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers launch largest-ever US health care strike
“We also understand the immense pressures felt across the U.S. in retail pharmacy right now,” company spokesperson Marty Maloney said. “We are engaged and listening to the concerns raised by some of our team members. We are committed 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. We are making significant investments in pharmacist wages and hiring bonuses to attract and retain talent in harder-to-staff locations.”
During the CVS walkout, corporate staff flew to Kansas City to meet with organizers and agreed to a series of changes to improve working conditions and patient safety, including additional staffing and paid overtime.