Welcome to the Extreme Investor Network blog, where we bring you the latest and most insightful news in the world of business. Today, we’re diving into the pharmacy industry and the recent developments at CVS.
Pharmacy staff at two CVS retail stores in Rhode Island have made history by voting to join a new national pharmacy union. This decision highlights a growing movement among U.S. pharmacy workers to address what they perceive as unsafe working conditions. The two locations in Wakefield and Westerly won their union elections, becoming the first stores to unionize in CVS’ home state. This move follows the inclusion of a CVS Omnicare pharmacy in Las Vegas in the union, known as The Pharmacy Guild.
The Pharmacy Guild will represent these workers in negotiations with CVS. Shane Jerominski, a community pharmacist and co-founder of The Pharmacy Guild, emphasized the significance of these stores joining the union. He mentioned that these locations represent the classic CVS model, where many pharmacists have experienced challenging working conditions.
While these two locations only consist of nine out of roughly 30,000 CVS pharmacists in the U.S., this step is part of a larger trend. Some 700 CVS pharmacists are already unionized with other groups. CVS has expressed respect for their employees’ right to unionize and emphasized that the vote is the beginning of a collective bargaining process.
The Pharmacy Guild was founded in November in partnership with IAM Healthcare, a union representing thousands of healthcare professionals. This union aims to address issues such as unsafe staffing levels and increasing workloads that threaten both employees and patients. The Pharmacy Guild also seeks legislative changes to elevate standards in pharmacies and ensure patient safety.
The growing discontent among retail pharmacy staff, exacerbated by the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, has fueled the momentum behind unionization efforts. Shane Jerominski mentioned that more union filings could be expected in the coming weeks at various companies beyond CVS.
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