Walgreens hit by pharmacy staff walkout
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Walgreens pharmacists and store workers have planned walkouts at some locations through Wednesday in the latest labor unrest to roil the health sector.
What's happening: Pharmacies closed on Monday at Walgreens locations in Arizona, Washington, Massachusetts and Oregon, CNN confirmed, while employees took to social media to complain about understaffing and deteriorating working conditions.
- More than 500 locations in 49 states could be affected, one organizer posted on Reddit, though there is no single entity known to be coordinating the activity.
- Walgreens told CNN that it's seen some activity and is monitoring the situation, but that the majority of its pharmacies are operating.
Go deeper: The action comes after more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers stopped working for three days last week, demanding worker protections amid staffing shortages.
- The disruption could add another hiccup to the rollout of updated COVID-19 vaccines, which has been beset by supply chain issues and dropped or limited appointments.
- Workers online cited the difficulties of balancing vaccine demand with filling prescriptions and dealing with long lines and angry customers.
- They said a catalyst was a September walkout by CVS pharmacists in the Kansas City area over working conditions.
A Walgreens representative said the chain has increased training for new pharmacists but has put a pause on what it called "non-critical" training during the busy immunization season, per CNN.
- Walgreens and CVS previously automated some processes to lighten workloads. But chains also are pushing into new lines of business as they rethink the health care consumer experience.
