Some pharmacy workers are calling in sick or walking off the job this week to protest what they call inadequate staffing and increasing work requirements, according to protest organizers, and say it’s harder to do their jobs safely.
The protests by nonunion workers, called Pharmageddon on social media, are affecting some CVS and Walgreens locations, according to organizers and workers.
They are happening during a period of increasing labor activism by workers in other sectors, including the auto industry and Hollywood.
Bled Tanoe, a pharmacist in Oklahoma City who used to work for Walgreens and now works for a hospital, said she was helping to spread the word about the walkouts because she was concerned that pharmacy chains had been telling workers for years to “work faster and work with less help.”“Pharmacies are not OK,” Ms. Tanoe said.
“Your local Walgreens and CVS and Rite Aid is not OK. It’s a soup of danger, with ingredients from companies who have lost the core belief of what we do, which is patient care and patient focus.”
Persons:
Ms, Tanoe, ”
Organizations:
Walgreens, Hollywood, CVS
Locations:
Bled, Oklahoma City