Pharmacists prescribe another round of US protests to highlight working conditions

abcnews.go.com:

Drugstore employees around the country have started calling in sick to highlight a lack of support from their employers

Drugstore workers around the country started calling in sick Monday to highlight a lack of support from their employers, protest organizers said.

The extent and impact of the demonstration, which is planned until Wednesday, were not clear as of Monday afternoon.

Pharmacists and technicians for dozens of drugstores had called in sick as of midday, said Lannie Duong, a pharmacist who is helping to organize the protest. She said organizers estimate that “at least hundreds” of pharmacists and technicians — mostly for Walgreens and other big retailers like CVS Health — were involved.

Pharmacists say they have been dealing with difficult working conditions for years. Those problems worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when stores saw waves of people seeking tests, vaccines and treatments.

Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman said Monday afternoon that the company had to close three of its nearly 9,000 U.S. locations “due to workforce disruptions.”

CVS Health spokeswoman Amy Thibault said the company was not seeing “any unusual activity regarding unplanned pharmacy closures or pharmacist walkouts.”

This week’s protests followed a similar demonstration earlier this month that also targeted Walgreens and one last month involving CVS locations in the Kansas City area.

The retail pharmacists are not looking for more pay or vacation time, although they would support better wages for the technicians, said Duong, a California clinical pharmacist. She said the protest is more about giving employees the ability to do their jobs safely.

Pharmacists and technicians fill prescriptions, answer customer calls about drug