AND CVS Omnicare Pharmacy in Las Vegas has become a pharmacy first location to join a recent national pharmaceutical union, a milestone for organizers trying to support thousands of U.S. pharmacy workers cope with so-called unsafe working conditions.
Nearly 30 pharmacy employees at the CVS Omnicare branch in Las Vegas they won the union elections on Thursday for a landslide of 87% to 13%, according to a press release from the guild. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians fill prescriptions for seniors and other vulnerable patients in long-term care facilities throughout Nevada.
These employees are now joining Pharmaceutical Guildwho will represent them in labor negotiations with CVS.
“We will try to get the best contract in the industry for those people who trust our union to represent them. This is a historic victory and a very decisive one,” Shane Jerominski, community pharmacist and founding co-founder of the Pharmacy Guild, told CNBC.
Jerominski and other organizers of the recent nationwide pharmacy worker strike have partnered with IAM Healthcare, a union representing thousands of health care workers, to launch the Pharmacy Guild in November. The tardy October work stoppage, which organizers called “Pharmageddon,” affected major drugstore chains such as CVS, Walgreens AND Aid in ordinancesdrawing the attention of the broad media to the scope of employee concerns.
As with the strike, the Pharmacy Guild aims to support pharmacy workers address what many workers call unsafe staffing levels and increasing workloads across the industry, putting both workers and patients at risk. The guild is also calling for legislative and regulatory changes to establish higher standards of practice in pharmacies to protect patients.
The unionization efforts are the culmination of years of growing dissatisfaction among retail pharmacy workers, who often struggle with staffing shortages and rising work expectations imposed by company management. The Covid pandemic has only exacerbated these problems, as recent responsibilities such as testing and vaccinations have further reduced the burden on pharmacists and technicians.
In a statement, a CVS Health spokesman said the company respects the right of its employees to form or refrain from forming a union, including the decision of Omnicare Las Vegas employees to elect union representation. The company added that it will “closely and engage” with its employees to address their current and future concerns and is “committed to providing a positive and rewarding work environment.”
Omnicare, acquired by CVS in 2015, is not a publicly accessible pharmacy like most of the chain’s nearly 10,000 locations. According to the CVS website, Omnicare pharmacies operate in 49 states.
But Omnicare and other pharmacies share the same problems, from staffing levels to low starting salaries for technicians, Jerominski said.
“This is not specific to Omnicare, the problems they were reporting were the same problems I hear across the country. It is ubiquitous on all major networks,” Jerominski said. “You can only ask a company to support you for so long.… That’s the reason for the strikes. Finally they said, ‘No, we will get the support we want.’
The Pharmacy Guild will now work to reach a union contract with CVS to address the concerns of Omnicare workers in Las Vegas. Jerominski said these workers want uniform work schedules that guarantee pharmacy technicians 40 hours a week year-round.
“You can’t keep people with certain skills and a family, especially given the level of stress that comes with this job, if you don’t even guarantee them 40 hours,” Jerominski told CNBC.
The Pharmaceutical Guild is developing dynamically in other parts of the country. According to Jerominski, pharmacy workers at two retail stores in Rhode Island have officially confirmed that they have filed to unionize with the guild.
CVS is headquartered in the state.
