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IPFS News Link • Employee and Employer Relations

Walgreens pharmacy staff walk out, citing unsafe working conditions

• https://www.msn.com, by Jaclyn Peiser

The walkout could impact hundreds of stores starting Monday and going through Wednesday, an organizer of the effort told The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the company. It is unclear whether any pharmacies have stopped operations.

Pharmacists, technicians and support staff claim that increased demands on understaffed teams — such as administering vaccines while battling hundreds of backlogged prescriptions — have become untenable and are impeding their ability to do their jobs responsibly.

"When you're a pharmacist, a missed letter or a number that's wrong in a prescription could kill somebody," the organizer said.

In a statement to The Post, Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman said the company recognizes that the last few years have been "unprecedented" and "a very challenging time."

"We also understand the immense pressures felt across the U.S. in retail pharmacy right now," Engerman said. "We are engaged and listening to the concerns raised by some of our team members. We are committed to ensuring that our entire pharmacy team has the support and resources necessary to continue to provide the best care to our patients while taking care of their own well-being."

"We are making significant investments in pharmacist wages and hiring bonuses to attract/retain talent in harder to staff locations," he added, but did not provide further details.


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