Workers at seven CVS pharmacies in Southern California are now on strike, as they demand better pay and health care and to call out what they describe as the company engaging in bad-faith contract bargaining.
The strike began Friday and continued through the weekend, affecting four stores in Los Angeles and three others in Orange County. Striking workers outside a Los Angeles location told customers on Saturday not to cross the picket lines, according to The Associated Press.
Melissa Acosta, a pharmacy technician who is on the contract bargaining committee, claimed the company was “intimidating workers, observing them, getting in the way of them speaking to union representatives,” the outlet reported.
Despite the strike, the affected CVS locations have remained open and staffed by managers and nonunion employees.
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Workers planned to continue picketing until contract negotiations with the company resume Wednesday.
The strike was approved when more than 90% of the two local United Food and Commercial Workers unions involved voted in favor on Sept. 29, according to The Associated Press.
“We’re disappointed that our UFCW member colleagues have gone on strike at a few select locations in the Los Angeles area,” CVS spokesperson Amy Thibault said in a statement.
Thibault said the company has made progress towards a final contract and has reached tentative agreements to raise pay and increase the company’s health insurance contributions.
Acosta said she cannot afford the cost of the insurance CVS offers, so she is instead enrolled in the state-run program Covered California.
“In my nine years of working with CVS, I’ve never been able to afford their health care plan,” she said.
Pharmacy chains across the country have struggled with costs and online competition.
CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch of CVS Health recently resigned, as shares dropped 19%. CVS is reaching the end of a three-year plan to close 900 stores.
The company’s pharmacy technicians, who must complete an extensive training program and satisfy licensing requirements, currently make $24.90 an hour after five years on the job, the union said.
Carlos Alfaro, a technician who is on strike, said stores are understaffed as the flu season begins, according to The Associated Press.
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“We have to call [patients] constantly to get flu shots, push vaccines,” Alfaro said. “This is a lot of extra work we’re expected to do, on top of filling medications at the pharmacy.”
Many stores have been locking up items in an effort to prevent shoplifting, forcing customers to ask employees to unlock items such as soap and laundry detergent.
“There are so many customers that don’t get help and have to constantly wait to get something unlocked,” Acosta said. “They think we just don’t want to help them, when in reality the company doesn’t give us adequate staffing to be able to provide excellent customer service.”
Workers are also making other demands, including a request for better store security.
