A group of 10 pharmacists and technicians at a Walgreens store in Vancouver, Wash., have filed a petition to vote on joining the Pharmacy Guild, the new union seeking to organize pharmacy workers around the country.
It marks the first time Walgreens workers have petitioned with the National Labor Relations Board to join the Pharmacy Guild, which is affiliated with IAM Healthcare, a union of healthcare professionals. Workers at other Walgreens stores have also expressed interest in joining the Pharmacy Guild, a spokesperson for the union told Supermarket News.
In a statement, the Walgreens workers said they face heavy workloads and inadequate staffing.
“We care deeply for our patients – their health and safety is our top priority in this drive to unionize,” the Vancouver Walgreens workers said in a group statement. “We are united with a strong majority to make positive change. We call on Walgreens to not only respect our rights to unionize, but to actively work with us to improve conditions for both patients and pharmacy professionals.”
A Walgreens spokesperson said the retailer was committed to ensuring that its employees are fairly compensated.
“We respect the right of our team members to choose to be represented by a union but continue to believe the best way to maintain a positive environment is through the direct relationship between our team members and their managers,” the spokesperson told Supermarket News.
Workers at a handful of CVS locations around the country are also in the process of joining the Pharmacy Guild. In April, pharmacists at a CVS Omnicare facility in Las Vegas became the first to vote to join the Pharmacy Guild, followed by pharmacists at two CVS drugstores in Rhode Island.
The Walgreens workers said they requested voluntary recognition of the union but said Walgreens did not respond. The workers subsequently filed a petition for election with NLRB.
“The issues we have heard from pharmacy professionals are not limited to a single employer or part of the country,” said Shane Jerominski, co-founder of the Pharmacy Guild. “Having worked at Walgreens, I am all too familiar with the challenges these professionals are unionizing to address.”
About 900 Walgreens pharmacy workers at 400 stores in the Chicago area are currently represented by a union called the National Pharmacists Association, according to reports, and several workers at other Walgreens are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. The UFCW represents about 20,000 workers at Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid stores, according to the UFCW.
Most pharmacists are not represented by a union, however. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that just 4.6% of pharmacists nationwide are union members, although interest has been growing as workers have complained of increased workloads for services such as vaccines and testing. Workers at both CVS and Walgreens last year staged walkouts at several locations around the country.
In response, both retailers said they have increased wages and benefits for pharmacy workers and taken other actions to alleviate employee pressures.
