Pharmacy Employees at Walgreens Plan Walkout Over Prescription and Vaccination Demands

Pharmacy employees at certain Walgreens stores in the United States are planning a walkout between Monday and Wednesday, as reported by CNN. This walkout is organized by a group of employees, including pharmacists, technicians, and support staff. While some employees intend to participate for just one day, others are planning to close their pharmacies for all three days, according to information obtained from employees in three different states.

The primary reason behind this walkout is the pharmacy employees’ dissatisfaction with what they perceive as excessive prescription and vaccination-related expectations placed on pharmacists by the company. These expectations are believed to be burdensome and are leading to frustration among the pharmacy workforce.

Reuters attempted to reach out to the employees involved in the reported action for their comments, but they were not immediately reachable.

In response to these developments, Walgreens issued an email statement, indicating that the company is actively engaged in listening to the concerns raised by some of its team members. The company also mentioned that it is taking steps to address some of these concerns, such as making significant investments in pharmacist wages and offering hiring bonuses to attract and retain talent, especially in locations that are harder to staff.

This walkout at Walgreens comes at a time when the healthcare sector is seeing notable labor unrest. Recently, in what is considered the largest-ever healthcare sector strike in the United States, 75,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses, medical technicians, and support staff walked off the job at hospitals and clinics for a duration of 72 hours. While this strike concluded with an agreement to resume contract talks between the parties involved, union officials have hinted at the possibility of further walkouts in the future.

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