JAIMIE DING
Sat, October 19, 2024
Workers on strike picket in front of a CVS pharmacy on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jaimie Ding)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Workers at seven CVS pharmacies in Southern California have gone on strike for better pay and health care and to protest what they say is bad-faith contract bargaining by the company.
The walkout, which affected four stores in Los Angeles and three in Orange County, began Friday morning and continued into the weekend. On Saturday outside one of the LA stores, strikers urged customers not to cross the picket lines.
Melissa Acosta, a pharmacy technician who is on the contract bargaining committee, accused the company of “intimidating workers, observing them, getting in the way of them speaking to union representatives.”
The CVS locations affected have remained open, staffed by managers and nonunion employees.
Workers planned to continue picketing until negotiations resume Wednesday. The strike was authorized by a vote of the two local United Food and Commercial Workers unions involved on Sept. 29, with more than 90% in favor.
“We're disappointed that our UFCW member colleagues have gone on strike at a few select locations in the Los Angeles area,” company spokesperson Amy Thibault said in a statement.
Thibault said CVS has made progress on getting to a final contract and reached “tentative agreements” to raise pay and increase the company's health insurance contributions.
Acosta said she cannot meet the cost of the insurance CVS offers and instead is enrolled in the state-run program Covered California.
“In my nine years of working with CVS, I’ve never been able to afford their health care plan,” she said.
Major pharmacy chains across the country have been struggling with costs and online competition. CEO Karen Lynch of CVS Health, which owns the chain, recently stepped down as shares dropped 19%. CVS is nearing the end of a three-year plan to close 900 stores.
CVS pharmacy technicians, who are required to complete an extensive training program and satisfy licensing requirements, currently make $24.90 an hour after five years on the job, according to the union.
Carlos Alfaro, a technician who joined the strike, said stores are understaffed as the flu season begins.
“We have to call (patients) constantly to get flu shots, push vaccines,” Alfaro said. “This is a lot of extra work we're expected to do, on top of filling medications at the pharmacy.”
Many stores have increasingly locked up items as an anti-shoplifting measure, forcing customers to get assistance from employees. Workers say that further exacerbates the understaffing problem.
“There are so many customers that don’t get help and have to constantly wait to get something unlocked,” said Acosta. “They think we just don’t want to help them, when in reality the company doesn't give us adequate staffing to be able to provide excellent customer service.”
Workers are also asking for better store security, among other demands.
CVS workers picket across Southern California as strike continues
Austin Turner
Sat, October 19, 2024
Workers across seven CVS locations in Southern California are continuing to strike into the weekend, alleging unfair labor practices.
Thousands of workers are participating from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, who are demanding more fair pay and improved working conditions.
“A strike is always workers’ last resort when they are fighting for the contract they deserve, but CVS has engaged in multiple labor violations from allegedly unlawfully surveilling workers and retaliating against workers for union activity,” a spokesperson from the UFCW said in a statement. “All these actions hinder CVS workers from getting the contract they deserve, and are nothing more than an attempt to strong-arm workers into accepting an offer that is less than what they need to thrive in Southern California.”
Despite the store remaining open on Saturday, workers picketed outside the Buena Park CVS pleading for a better deal and for a raise. About 7,000 workers are participating in the strike, and that number can grow as Rite Aid pharmacy workers consider a strike of their own.
The union said the strike is supposed to last a few days, but workers could walk out again if the company doesn’t meet demands.
CVS has laid off thousands of corporate workers in recent months amid a restructure at the top.
The UFCW said while seven Southern California stores are currently on strike, more could join if a second walk out is approved in the coming days and weeks.
In a statement to KTLA, a CVS spokesperson said the following:
“We’re disappointed that our UFCW member colleagues have gone on strike at seven locations in the Los Angeles area.”
“We’ve had more than a dozen good faith negotiating sessions with the UFCW over the last several months, including six since the contract expired in June. Over the course of these discussions, we’ve made progress on finalizing a contract and have already reached tentative agreements that will increase the rate of pay for store associates, with additional increases for colleagues with 5+ years of service and colleagues with 10+ years of service. In addition, we’ve agreed not to reduce any benefit they currently have and offered to increase the amount of money CVS Health contributes toward the cost of health insurance for those enrolled in company-sponsored health insurance.”
There’s more to do, but we’re committed to working together. We look forward to reconvening with UFCW to continue negotiations and hope to finalize an agreement soon.”
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