Rx staff from CVS, Walgreens stores begin three-day walkout

NEW YORK — According to published reports, some employees at CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance’s pharmacies launched a three-day walkout starting Monday to push the companies to improve working conditions and add more staff to their stores.

The walkout, which has been dubbed “Pharmageddon” on social media platforms such as Meta’s Facebook where it was largely planned, started on Monday and led to the closing of some stores in New York City, two organizers told Reuters.

Shane Jerominski, a former Walgreens pharmacist and one of the organizers of the walkout, told Reuters 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 not clear due to the lack of a union.

He pointed to “grossly understaffed” stores where employees have to fill not only prescriptions but also look at appointments and walk-ins for immunization as one of the triggers for the action.

In September, some staff from CVS stores in Kansas City went on a two-day strike, while there was another by Walgreens store employees earlier this month.

Pharmacy staff in New York and Pennsylvania were planning to participate, including workers at some of Walgreens’ Duane Reade stores in New York, he said.

Some pharmacists were also planning to conduct rallies outside CVS’ headquarters at Woonsocket, Rhode Island and at Walgreens at Deerfield, Illinois, according to social media posts.

A CVS spokesperson issued the following statement, “We’re serving patients across our footprint 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.”

A Walgreens spokesperson 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.”