Employees at seven CVS pharmacies in Southern California went on strike demanding better wages and health care — the latest sign of turmoil at the company whose CEO recently resigned amid store closures and dwindling inventory.
Employees at four stores in Los Angeles and three other stores in Orange County walked off the job Friday — though the locations remained open as managers and non-union employees worked in the pharmacies.
Striking workers outside a Los Angeles location told customers not to cross the picket line.
The workers plan to continue the strike until talks resume on Wednesday.
The strike was authorized on 29 September by a vote of the two local United Food and Commercial Workers unions involved, with over 90% in favor.
“We are disappointed that our fellow UFCW members have gone on strike at select locations in the Los Angeles area,” company spokeswoman Amy Thibault told The Associated Press in a statement.
Thibault said CVS has made progress on the final contract and has reached a “tentative agreement” to raise wages and increase the company’s health insurance contributions.
Melissa Acosta, a pharmacy technician who is on the negotiating committee, accused CVS of “intimidating employees, stalking them, getting in the way of talking to union representatives.”
Acosta told the AP that the cost of insurance provided by CVS was too high, so he enrolled in the state-run program Covered California.
“In my nine years of working with CVS, I have never been able to afford their health care plan,” she said.
is one of cvs Three big pharmacy chains have been sued Reportedly by the Federal Trade Commission Driving diabetics to higher priced insulin To receive millions of dollars in rebates from pharmaceutical companies.
According to the union, CVS pharmacy technicians, who are required to complete an extensive training program and meet licensing requirements, currently earn $24.90 an hour after five years on the job.
Carlos Alfaro, a technician involved in the strike, said that due to the start of flu season, there is a shortage of workers in the shops.
“We have to constantly call (patients) to get flu shots, to get shots,” Alfaro said. “In addition to filling medications at the pharmacy, we are expected to do a lot of this extra work.”
Many stores have increasingly locked out items as an anti-theft measure, forcing customers to seek assistance from staff. Workers say that this has further increased the problem of shortage of employees.
“There are a lot of customers who don’t get help and have to constantly wait for something to be unlocked,” Acosta said.
“They think we don’t want to help them, when in reality the company doesn’t staff us well enough to be able to provide excellent customer service.”
The employees are also demanding better store security, among other demands.
Last week, CVS announced that Karen Lynch would be stepping down as CEO and that the role would be taken over by longtime company executive David Joyner.
CVS changed it Glenview Capital’s response to pressureAn active investor who is agitating to take action when a company’s shares fall.
News of the change caused the company’s shares to fall more than 5%.
CVS stock is down by nearly half from its 2022 high, partly related to repeated quarter-on-quarter profit forecast cuts. Rising costs in its large health care insurance business and compete for Huge network of retail pharmacies,
CVS also recently announced it would do so Nearly 3,000 jobs cut across the country.
with post wires
