COMP NEWS – Employees around the U.S. may walk out on the job next week over harsh and dangerous working conditions.

Employees at two of the largest drugstore chains in the United States say harsh working conditions make it difficult to safely fill prescriptions, which could put the health of their customers at risk. Now, they’re demanding change by staging a series of walkouts across the country.

Pharmacy employees at some Walgreens stores, including pharmacists, technicians and support staff, are planning a walkout between October 9-11, an organizer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from the chain, confirmed to CNN. Some employees plan to walk out for just one day, while others expect to shutter their pharmacies for all three days.

Employees at more than 500 of America’s approximately 9,000 Walgreens stores across the United States have expressed interest and solidarity, a Walgreens pharmacy employee and walkout organizer said, though fewer will likely end up participating.

Pharmacy employees have said that working conditions at Walgreens have become extremely difficult since the pandemic.

Pharmacy employees of Walgreens and CVS and pharmacist advocates told CNN that their work has always been difficult, but the pandemic made things near impossible. Employees describe severe and chronic understaffing, low pay, high vaccination quotas, long stretches without bathroom breaks, abusive management and violent customers.

Inspired by successful labor strikes across the country this year, they’re saying enough is enough and organizing walkouts as part of what some labor advocates are calling “pharmageddon.”

In September, CVS pharmacists shuttered as many as 22 pharmacies in two walkouts over two weeks in the Kansas City area in a planned protest, prompting executives from the Rhode Island-based retailer to meet with staff and assure that additional support and higher overtime pay were coming.

“Pharmacists are doing exactly what they’ve been trained to do, which is evaluate the situation and take whatever action is necessary to ensure that they’re providing the best patient care,” said Michael Hogue, CEO of the American Pharmacists Association, who traveled to Kansas City to meet with CVS executives and walkout organizers this week. “We have a widespread problem in the US of inadequate staffing in community-based pharmacies.”

To read more about Walgreens’ employee walk-outs, click here.

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