Walgreens employees, pharmacists, technicians and support staff are set to walk off their jobs next week in protest of conditions they say threaten patient health and safety.
The protests are set to start on October 9 and run until October 11. Employees have the option of protesting however long they like between the three days, organizers say.
It is being done in response to what pharmacy employees call ‘burdensome prescription and vaccination expectations.’
Employees at more than 500 of Walgreens’ 9,000 stores across the country have expressed interest and solidarity towards ‘Operation Spotlight.’
‘My pharmacy has historically been top of the chain but these corporate demands are unrealistic and unfair to us and to our patients,’ one employee wrote in a social-media post about the protests.
Thousands of employees are set to walk out of stores in protest of burdensome prescription and vaccination expectations
One employee took to social media to protest the working conditions and organize the walk out
Employees at more than 500 of Walgreens’ 9,000 stores across the country have expressed interest and solidarity towards ‘Operation Spotlight’
One Walgreens employee took to Reddit to explain the situation in their pharmacy.
They wrote: ‘ I have spent hours explaining to patients why we scheduled them an appointment for a vaccine we didn’t have. I’ve also given over 100 vaccines in a day all by myself while 600+ leaflets lay on the counter.
‘I have asked for help and voiced my concerns just as you have. They call you all whiners and tell you that you aren’t “meeting expectations.” When will they meet our expectations? When will they give us the support to meet the expectations of our patients?’
The unnamed Reddit user also goes into detail about what other employees can do in the protest, which includes contacting their local Board of Pharmacy and news channels.
‘Contact your local Board of Pharmacy immediately! There is nothing Walgreens can do to punish you for reporting safety concerns. There are whistleblower protections in every state.
‘Report this madness. Report the inhumane working conditions. Report the negligence and abuse our patients are experiencing. Report the dangers our patients face due to the unsafe environment Walgreens has created.
‘Call your local news and let them know what is happening. Anonymous is fine, on camera, even better. You are protected as a whistleblower. I already have a major news outlet interview lined up. Reach out yourselves. Let’s make this big.’
Another Reddit user gives steps on how employees can contact their local Board of Pharmacy
‘There have been nights where I’ve been on the verge of tears because of how hard it is. I had a patient give me a fist bump and tell me I was doing a good job, and that meant so much to me. The patients are caring more about us than the employer is,’ said one pharmacist
Walgreens said in an emailed response that it was engaged and listening to concerns raised by some of its team members
Another Reddit user gives steps on how employees can contact their local Board of Pharmacy.
He wrote: ‘I think we all know at this point that Walgreens is not going to change on its own. In that vein, I would like you to put pressure on our boards of pharmacy. These institutions are put in place to ensure our patients are safe.’
Walgreens said in an emailed response that it was engaged and listening to concerns raised by some of its team members.
‘We are making significant investments in pharmacist wages and hiring bonuses to attract/retain talent in harder to staff locations,’ the company said.
One pharmacist told CNN: ‘There have been nights where I’ve been on the verge of tears because of how hard it is. I had a patient give me a fist bump and tell me I was doing a good job, and that meant so much to me. The patients are caring more about us than the employer is.’
This comes a week after CVS agreed to boost hiring in its stores to ease workloads that were sometimes making it hard for employees to take a bathroom break.
Pharmacists in at least a dozen Kansas City-area CVS pharmacies did not show up for work in September and planned to be out again until the company sent its chief pharmacy officer with promises to fill open positions and increase staffing levels.
It was one of the latest examples nationwide of workers fed up enough to take action. But unlike in the ongoing strikes at the automakers or in Hollywood, the pharmacists weren’t demanding raises or more vacation, but more workers to help them.
It’s unclear why workload concerns that are common industrywide led to a work stoppage in Kansas City. The pharmacists involved are not in a union and haven’t spoken publicly so it’s not entirely clear how satisfied they are with the company’s response.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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