Pharmacy staff at Walgreens reportedly walk out
Citing unsafe working conditions, thousands of Walgreens pharmacy staff across the country are reportedly walking off work this week per a Washington Post report. The news follows a walkout of pharmacy employees at CVS locations in Kansas City a few weeks ago.
The walkout could impact hundreds of stores through Wednesday, an organizer told The Washington Post, which also said that pharmacists, technicians and support staff claim that increased demands on understaffed teams — such as administering vaccines while battling hundreds of backlogged prescriptions — have become untenable and are impeding their ability to do their jobs responsibly.
[Read more: CVS pharmacists in Kansas City stage walkouts]
“When you’re a pharmacist, a missed letter or a number that’s wrong in a prescription could kill somebody,” the organizer told The Washington Post.
In a statement to Drug Store News, Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman said,
"a small number of our pharmacies experienced disruptions and we apologize for any inconvenience. Nearly all of our 9,000 locations continue to serve our patients and customers. Our pharmacy teams work tirelessly to serve our communities — from administering life-saving vaccines, to helping patients receive prescriptions and health screenings — especially this time of year, during which we see some of the highest rates of respiratory illnesses and seasonal vaccinations."
Engerman added, "The last few years have required an unprecedented effort from our team members, and we share their pride in this work — while recognizing it has been a very challenging time. We also understand the immense pressures felt across the U.S. in retail pharmacy right now. 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 wellbeing. We are making significant investments in pharmacist wages and hiring bonuses to attract/retain talent."
Engerman also noted that only one location remains closed this afternoon due to a walkout.
[Read more: Walgreens eliminates task-based metrics for pharmacy staff]
Employees are requesting that the company hire more pharmacy staff, establish mandatory training hours, offer transparency in how payroll hours are assigned to stores and give advance notice when staff will be cut or when a position opens, per the report.