Saturday, October 07, 2023

Walgreens pharmacy employees plan walkout at US stores, CNN reports

Reuters
Fri, October 6, 2023 


Signage is seen outside of a Walgreens, owned by the Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., in Manhattan, New York City


(Reuters) - Pharmacy employees at some U.S. Walgreens stores, including pharmacists, technicians and support staff, plan a walkout between Monday and Wednesday, CNN reported on Friday, citing an organizer.

Some employees plan to walk out for one day, while others expect to close their pharmacies for all three, the network said, citing employees in three states.

The walkout is in response to what pharmacy employees call burdensome prescription and vaccination expectations placed on pharmacists, the report said.

Reuters could not immediately reach employees involved in the reported action for comment.

Walgreens said in an emailed response 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.

In the biggest ever U.S. healthcare sector strike, Kaiser Permanente nurses, medical technicians and support staff walked off the job at hospitals and clinics for 72 hours this week.

The strike by 75,000 workers ended on Friday as the two sides agreed to resume stalled contract talks, although union officials warned of possible further walkouts.

(Reporting by Dimpal Gulwani in Bengaluru; Additional Reporting by Devika Nair and Rishabh Jaiswal; Editing by Sandra Maler, Rosalba O'Brien and William Mallard)

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