WASHINGTON — Pharmacy staff at some Walgreens locations around the country are walking off the job this week, because of what they’re calling “poor working conditions.”
This comes just weeks after a group of pharmacists frustrated with overwhelming workloads didn't show up for work in at least a dozen Kansas City-area CVS pharmacies.
One organizer of the Walgreens walkout effort told The Washington Post they were inspired by the Kansas City work stoppage and believe increased demands on understaffed pharmacy teams have impacted their ability to do their jobs responsibly.
Walgreens said in a statement Tuesday that "no more than a dozen" of its thousands of pharmacies nationwide has experienced disruptions because of the walkouts. CNN reported about closures Monday in Arizona, Washington, Massachusetts and Oregon.
Workload concerns are common industrywide and stores are starting their busiest time of year as customers look for help with colds and the flu.
In recent years, drugstores have struggled to fill open pharmacist and pharmacy technician positions, even as many have raised pay and dangled signing bonuses.
Larger drugstore chains often operate stores with only one pharmacist on duty per shift, said Richard Dang, an assistant professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of Southern California. That kind of thin staffing can make it hard to recruit employees.
“I think that many pharmacists in the profession are hesitant to work for a company where they don’t feel supported,” said Dang, a former president of the California Pharmacists Association.
In a statement, Walgreens said they recognized the last few years "have required an unprecedented effort" by staff and "has been a very challenging time."
"We are engaged and listening to the concerns raised by some of our team members," Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman said. "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 wellbeing."
Former Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer said in late June that the company had added more than 1,000 pharmacists in the second quarter, but was running into a shortage of job candidates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.