Several pharmacists across the United States, unhappy with worsening working conditions at mammoth retail chains, kick-started their third and most extensive walkout of the season, calling it it “Pharmageddon.”
Over 4,500 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from several chains, namely CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens, participated in the movement.
The industry’s biggest professional organisation, The American Pharmacists Association, has also expressed its support, showing accord with those participating.
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What does the latest walkout signify?
This walkout comes as the latest in a series of actions that have affected the pharmacy industry.
The September 2023 walkout let to the shutdown of a dozen pharmacies in the Kansas area. The second one, that took place in October 2023 affected several Walgreens stores across the country.
Pharmacy employees are taking part in these protests to primarily address their ongoing struggles, calling for the need to equip stores with more personnel and resources.
Over the years, major pharmacy chains, including CVS and Walgreens, have continued to cut staffing levels while assigning frontline workers with overwhelming amounts of work.
Many workers complain that the situation has gone from bad to worse after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, most stores are also operating at half the workforce they had a decade ago.
The high prescription volume, vaccine appointments, rapid tests, and patient consultation calls made the situation even more pressing for pharmacy staff.
This pressure has resulted in mounting medication errors, which in turn puts the patient’s safety at risk.
Many pharmacists are also complaining of long work hours that lead to exhaustion and errors.
The core demand of the walkout participants is additional staff to handle prescription filling and dispensing, patient vaccinations, and patient consultation calls.
What are the big pharmacies saying?
In response to these demands, CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid have all issued statements acknowledging their problems while at work and assurance that working conditions would improve over time.
CVS, for instance, carried out changes to better working conditions and patient safety after a walkout, which included additional staffing and paid overtime.
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Walgreens responded by launching a listening tour and allowing understaffed stores to cut down on the number of daily vaccination appointments.
It is important to note that all pharmacists participating in the walkout are affiliated with major chains.
Some, like Kyara Dawbin, a pharmacy technician at Hannaford Supermarkets in Maine, have experienced similar staffing cuts and mounting pressure.
(With inputs from agencies)
