The CVS Pharmacy logo is shown on a sign above a CVS Health Corp. store in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 7, 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon AFP | Getty Images
2 pharmacy staff CVS Rhode Island retail stores vote to add new National Federation of Pharmacies It marked a sign of growing momentum Friday in a movement to help thousands of U.S. pharmacy workers address what they call unsafe working conditions.
Wakefield and Westerly 24-hour pharmacy workers win union election, becoming first CVS stores to unionize hometownaccording to a press release from the union. A month ago, a CVS Omnicare pharmacy in Las Vegas closed to customers — Be the first place to join the alliance, called Pharmacy Association.
Labor organizations will negotiate with CVS on their behalf.
“These are the first traditional CVS stores to join the alliance,” Shane Jerominski, a community pharmacist and co-founder of the Pharmacy Guild, told CNBC. “That’s really where my heart is…we’re all working on this walgreens Or CVS in a classic retail environment, so we all know the working conditions there.
In a statement to CNBC, a CVS spokesperson said the two locations are staffed by nine of the company’s approximately 30,000 pharmacists in the United States. They noted that about 700 CVS pharmacists are already unionized with other groups.
The spokesman said the company respects employees’ rights to join or not join a union. They added that the vote is the first of several steps in the collective bargaining process.
A CVS spokesperson added that if the NLRB confirms the results, “we will negotiate in good faith with the union and work toward an agreement.”
Jerominski and other organizers of the fall’s national pharmacy workers strike partnered with IAM Healthcare, a union representing thousands of health care professionals, to form the Pharmacy Association in November. The shutdown involves major drugstore chains such as CVS and Walgreens. ritual assistance and drew widespread media attention to workers’ concerns.
The Pharmacy Association aims to help pharmacy staff address what many workers say are unsafe staffing levels and rising workloads across the industry that put both staff and patients at risk. The coalition is also calling for legislative and regulatory changes to establish higher standards of pharmacy practice to protect patients.
The unionization effort reflects years of growing dissatisfaction among retail pharmacy workers, who say they often face understaffed teams and rising work expectations imposed by corporate management. Many employees say the coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated these problems, with new responsibilities such as vaccinations and testing making pharmacy workers’ jobs even more stressful.
Jerominski said the pharmacy guild is seeing momentum building in other parts of the country. He added that stores from companies other than CVS may receive more union filings in the coming weeks.
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