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Staff at Walgreens, other major U.S. pharmacy chains could WALK OUT in coming weeks to PROTEST poor working conditions

By ethanh // 2023-10-20

There is more trouble in pharmakeia land as Walgreens and other major pharmacy chains in the United States face employee walkouts and protests in the coming weeks against poor working conditions and low wages. Walgreens says its pharmacy staff, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and other support staff, is really unhappy with the state of things at the company, and is finally planning to do something about it. By the look of things, a nationwide pharmacy walkout is in the works that also appears to include CVS, a similarly struggling pharmacy chain corporation that is likewise mistreating its workers by refusing to address prolific problems such as understaffed teams at the company's stores. For years, pharmacy workers have been complaining about there not being enough employees to handle the drug-dispensing process. And once the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) came along, the situation worsened as pharmacy workers were given even more tasks such as "testing" and "vaccination." (Related: CVS is closing 900 stores and laying off 5,000 workers amid collapsing U.S. economy.)

Is Big Pharma dominance finally coming to an end?

Already in the Kansas City area, there have been coordinated walkouts of staff from both Walgreens and CVS. Very soon, it is expected that these coordinated walkouts will span the entire nation. What we are now seeing across many industries as of late is general unhappiness and discontent among employees. There have been more labor union disputes all happening at once in the past several years compared to any other time in U.S. history. COVID, it would seem, pulled the pin out of the economic grenade. The first dominoes were tipped as it arrived, and now the fallout is really starting to hit home as industry after industry, the latest being Big Pharma, is forced to grapple with angry employees who are tired of being taken advantage of so a few fat cats at the top can be multi-millionaires – and in some cases, multi-billionaires. According to a scared, anonymous organizer for the planned Walgreens walkouts and protests, the timeframe for dropping the bomb is between October 30 and November 1. Another organizer and independent pharmacist named Shane Jerominski, who used to work for Walgreens, confirmed these dates as well. The planned walkouts and protests extend beyond just Walgreens and CVS, with organizers also contacting workers at other pharmacies – the bigger the better, they say. When asked by the media what it thinks about the situation, Walgreens corporate pointed to an earlier canned statement about how the company is working "tirelessly to serve our communities," boasting nearly 9,000 store locations nationwide. "The last few years have required an unprecedented effort from our team member," a Walgreens spokesperson admitted about the excessive amount of work that already overworked pharmacists and other employees now face in the post-COVID era. According to the company, it is taking its employees' concerns very seriously, including by making "significant investments," to quote CNBC, in wages and hiring bonuses in order to retain its pharmacists, especially at hard-to-staff store locations. On average, Walgreens pharmacists rake in $57.45 per hour. Meanwhile, the company's pharmacy division raked in $110 billion in fiscal year 2023. As for the situation at CVS, pharmacists and other employees still have to meet with Prem Shah, the company's chief pharmacy officer and president of pharmacy and consumer wellness. Depending on the outcome of that meeting, CVS workers may or may not end up joining the Walgreens workers – though it appears as though joint walkouts and protests will happen at the end of the month. The latest news about the crumbling U.S. economy, which is now conveniently being offset with another genocidal war, can be found at Collapse.news. Sources for this article include: CNBC.com NaturalNews.com

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