Pharmacists at CVS, Walgreens reportedly planning another round of walkouts

Certain employees at CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance pharmacies are staging a three-day walkout starting Oct. 30, to get the companies to improve working conditions and increase staff, among other issues, per a Reuters report. 

The walkout, which the organizers are calling Pharmageddon, comes on the heels of a two-day strike in September by some staff from CVS stores in Kansas City, and a walkout by Walgreens store employees earlier this month.

Also noted in the report is that pharmacy staff in New York and Pennsylvania are planning to participate, including workers at some of Walgreens' Duane Reade stores in New York, and that according to social media posts, some pharmacists also were planning to conduct rallies outside CVS' headquarters at Woonsocket, R.I., and at Walgreens at Deerfield, Ill.

"Some of these stores are so grossly understaffed at the moment and just bogged down with not only prescriptions but the amount of immunization appointments and walk-ins that they're expected to do," Shane Jerominski, a former Walgreens pharmacist and one of the organizers of the walkout, told Reuters.

[Read more: Pharmacy staff at Walgreens, other chains reportedly planning nationwide walkout]

Jerominski estimated that as many as 5,000 pharmacy workers would walk out across the three days, but said that the exact number of affected stores and participating staff was unclear becasue of the lack of a union, per the report.

A CVS spokesperson provided Drug Store News with the following statement, "We’re serving patients across our footprint today and we're not seeing any unusual activity regarding unplanned pharmacy closures or pharmacist walkouts. We’re committed to providing access to consistent, safe, high-quality health care to the patients and communities we serve and are engaging in a continuous two-way dialogue with our pharmacists to directly address any concerns they have."

The statement continued, "In response to recent feedback from our pharmacy teams, we’re making targeted investments to address their key concerns, including enabling teams to schedule additional support as needed, enhancing pharmacist and technician recruitment and hiring, and strengthening pharmacy technician training. Our goal is to develop a sustainable and scalable action plan to support both our pharmacists and our customers so we can continue delivering the high-quality care our patients depend on."

[Read more: Pharmacy staff at Walgreens reportedly walk out]

A Walgreens spokesperson provided Drug Store News with a statement which said, "We recognize the incredible work our pharmacists do every day, especially this time of year when there is increased demand for their services across communities. Our leaders are in our pharmacies regularly, listening to concerns and frustrations and responding to feedback. We have taken steps over the last two years to improve pharmacists’ experience, advance the profession and enable them to provide the high value care they were trained to do. Nearly all of our 25,000 pharmacists continue to serve their customers and communities this week, and we thank them for it."