'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Pharmacy staff at selected Walgreens locations in the United States, including pharmacists, technicians, and support personnel, are organizing a walkout between October 9 and October 11, as per CNN. This is in protest of the harsh working conditions, which they believe have endangered customers' health.
According to the report, some personnel want to take a single day off while others anticipate closing their pharmacies for all three days. The protest is part of a bigger effort by pharmacy employees to improve working conditions. Employees from three Walgreens stores who spoke with CNN said that they intend to start a strike after the walkout.
Walgreens pharmacy employees demand better working conditions and pay
According to CNN, employees at one of the biggest drugstore chains in the US are preparing to strike. They have claimed that their challenging working conditions make it difficult for them to fill prescriptions safely, which may endanger the health of their customers.
They have since organized a number of walkouts across the nation to demand reform. They also said that these circumstances make it impossible for them to provide patients with safe care consistently.
"We don’t believe that Walgreens is allowing us to give our patients safe care on a daily basis. Walgreens isn’t responding, they’re not fixing those things," an organizer told the publication.
As of this writing, more than 9,000 employees from over 500 stores across the country have indicated interest and support in the walkout.
Additionally, staff members told CNN that they are dissatisfied with the company's management's onerous requirements for vaccinations and prescriptions, low staffing numbers, and the shortened training schedules for new technicians. Other causes of the walkout include low wages for the employees and an unsafe work environment.
The outlet also reported that while the company has increased training for new chemists, it has suspended "non-critical" training during the hectic vaccination season.
"We’re going to do way more harm to people in 10 more years of operating like this than we would with a three-day walkout. It’s time to try something different. Every year we get the same promises and every year we get the same Band-Aid on the problem," a pharmacist told CNN.
This decision came after a strike by healthcare professionals
The nurses, medical technicians, and support personnel at hundreds of Kaiser hospitals and clinics recently ended the largest-ever 72-hour strike that affected the U.S. healthcare industry.
As per CNN, Kansas Pharmacists Association's Amanda Applegate, shed light on the situation and said:
"It’s a hard job on a good day. It’s an incredibly rewarding job, but it’s hard. And so the idea of pharmacists essentially being turned into ATMs in these environments, encouraging volume over quality, is why this is happening."
The strike was organized by pharmacy employees, including retailers like Walgreens. It aimed to bring attention to the dangerous working conditions faced by pharmacy workers and to demand meaningful changes from employers. Additionally, it was organized at a time when pharmacists are being called upon more frequently for immunization season, further taxing the system.
