CVS Pharmacists Walk Out, Protest Work Conditions, Staff Cut Backs As Demand for RX, Vax Grows: NPR

Last edited Fri Sep 29, 2023, 02:17 PM - Edit history (1)

- Have a complaint about CVS? So do pharmacists: Many just walked out. NPR, Sept. 29, 2023. 🥼

Pharmacists working for CVS stores are walking off the job, resorting to a drastic form of protest to highlight what they say are unsafe and stressful work conditions tied to a widespread lack of proper staffing.

One week after a large walkout forced at least a dozen stores to shut down in the Kansas City area, CVS is promising changes. But another round of pharmacists' walkouts got widespread attention Wednesday.

CVS has cut back on staffing, including less time for technicians to assist pharmacists, even as the demand for prescriptions and vaccines grow, the protesters say. CVS announced plans at the start of this year to cut or shift hours at thousands of its pharmacies.

"It's like running a McDonald's with just one person," a pharmacist told The Kansas City Star, adding that they must work alone for the vast majority of the 64 hours a week their store is open. The pharmacists are not in a union, but they are among many workers across industries who are walking off the job to protest what they say are unfair conditions. "The number of workers who went on strike was 50% higher last year than in 2021,"...https://www.npr.org/2023/09/29/1202365487/cvs-pharmacists-walkout-protest
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*Also: Drugstore Downsizing, CVS, Walgreens & Rite Aid to Close Nearly 1,500 Stores, Forbes, Sept. 27, 2023.

The nation’s largest drugstore chains are facing mounting pressure, and they’ve prescribed the same script to cure their ills: closing stores.

Already drowning in $3.3 billion in debt and facing pending opioid-related lawsuit settlements, Rite AidRAD -1.6%, the nation’s third-ranked pharmacy chain behind CVS and Walgreens, is preparing for bankruptcy.

As part of ongoing negotiations, it proposes to close 400 to 500 of its 2,100 stores, though its bondholders want even more to shutter. Its retail pharmacy segment generated $17.8 billion last year and $288 million in adjusted EBITDA.

Earlier this year, number two CVS completed a strategic review and announced plans to shutter 900 stores between 2022 and 2024. It’s already pulled the plug on 300 of them...https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2023/09/27/drugstore-downsizing-cvs-walgreens-and-rite-aid-to-close-nearly-1500-stores/