National chains, according to pharmacists , need to increase staffing levels to protect patients and improve working conditions.
SOURCE : NBC NEWS
Drugstores are dull. Drugstores are thought to be dull places. However, they may be becoming too fascinating for comfort these days.
Over the last two weeks, a string of nonunion “wildcat strikes” has rattled the generally somnolent company. Pharmacists have walked off the job or refused to go to work in sporadic events around the nation.
More walkouts against major chains like Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid in late October and early November indicate that a broader strike may be on the horizon. Since the pharmacists are not members of a union, it is impossible to predict the number of participants or the number of sites that may be impacted.
Because the strikers aren’t requesting more compensation from their employers, the strikes are unique. In order to lessen their burdensome responsibilities, they are requesting that they recruit additional employees. In many situations, they are also looking for improved working circumstances.
“It’s really about having the support you need to do the job safely,” Oklahoma City pharmacist Bled Tanoe said. She used to work at Walgreens but is now employed by a hospital pharmacy. Although Tanoe is not going on strike, she has represented aggrieved pharmacists in the past.
In 2021, she started the #PizzaIsNotWorking hashtag to express her disapproval with drugstore companies’ handling of employee concerns. Recently, she has referred to the possible walkout on October 30–November 1 as “Pharmageddon.”
Growing annoyances pharmacists
There are indications that many pharmacists are dissatisfied with the way the industry is going. The American Pharmacists Association and the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations conducted a nonrandomized survey in 2021, and the results showed that 74% of 4,482 pharmacy employees said they did not have enough time to perform nonclinical work safely, and 75% said there were not enough other staff members, such as technicians and nurses, to perform clinical work safely.
Following the closure of many CVS pharmacies in the Kansas City region in late September, the matter gained national attention. After a brief meeting, the firm promised to address some of the strikers’ complaints.
Pharmacists who band together, go on strike, or voice their opinions are taking a significant risk. The employers of pharmacists have the authority to terminate them for going on strike or planning a walkout, although unionized workers often have a legally protected right to do so.
The stress behind the counter has increased as a result of many elements coming together. Pharmacies are busy because they are providing patients with additional services, particularly vaccinations. Customers get more irate as a result.
Director of practice development for the Kansas Pharmacists Association and licensed pharmacist Amanda Applegate remarked, “This is a nationwide problem that pharmacists have been internally yelling about for years.” Some of the individuals who went on strike in Kansas City were interviewed by her organization.
According to pharmacist Jennifer Morrow, she was employed at CVS from 2013 to 2021. She told NBC News that she was unable to spend enough time with patients because of staffing issues that she saw right away.
According to Morrow, there was a “gradual decline” over time where management would often reduce pharmacy technicians’ hours, making it more difficult to onboard new employees. As a result, experienced technicians had more work to do and eventually resigned from exhaustion.
“In the end, we wind up giving our patients less care. It has to end sometime,” she said.
According to Morrow, she was demoted after alerting supervisors to the possibility that the business could be in violation of New York state pharmacy staffing laws. After quitting, she is now employed in a non-franchised drugstore.
There’s a reason why the prospective attack is aimed at large chains. Many pharmacists, according to Applegate, are also irritated that such corporations have been either purchasing the smaller establishments in which they had worked, or else driving them out of business with their superior size, insurance policies, and pharmacy benefits management programs. According to her, pharmacists who work at such locations often feel as if their jobs are growing harder and their working circumstances are getting worse.
“The events in Kansas City are not very noteworthy. You’ve basically got a group of people who’ve had enough and have been pleading with management for these reforms for years—even before Covid,” she said.
Furthermore, the three largest pharmacy chains have all begun to close locations throughout the last two years. While Walgreens said in June that it will reduce 150 sites in the United States, CVS is now in the process of closing 900 locations in three years. Rite Aid is undergoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, which would likely result in the closure of at least 154 locations. The surviving shops get busier as a result of their being fewer venues to serve clients.
“When you’re moving that quickly you miss a lot of things, and we are the last line of defense until the patient gets the med,” Morrow said.
She said that she currently works at a small pharmacy after quitting CVS.
