Unionized workers at Southern California's Rite Aid stores, upset with company officials' contract proposals, are voting whether they will allow their leaders to call a strike against the pharmacy chain.
Some 6,000 workers represented by seven United Food and Commercial Workers locals began the vote on Thursday, July 26, to authorize a strike against Rite Aid. The balloting is expected to continue during the weekend, and the results will be announced Tuesday, according to a union statement.
Workers, who include pharmacists along with clerks and cashiers, have been working under an expired contract since July 15, and two weeks ago both sides agreed to stop the clock and extend the expired deal into August. (emphasis mine)
My friends. I know you know what's happened to the profession over the last 20 years. I know you've seen its slow motion destruction and I know you know who's responsible. There are three major drug chains left in this country. Pharmacists stopped being independent professionals long ago. Those three chains are calling the shots. Even if you are not employed by these big three, they own you.
"But they pay us well" so many of you so wussily say in reply as you watch your patients endangerd by practices that never would have been tolerated only 10 years ago.
Yes, they pay us well, for now.....
union leaders are incensed by Rite Aid's latest proposal, which includes the elimination of health and welfare benefits for current and future retirees and a big increase in out-of-pocket costs for workers' families. All told, the company wants to take back 34 benefits that workers currently get, said Connie Leyva, president of Local 1428, which represents workers in western San Bernardino County and eastern Los Angeles County.
Well paid is all you have left my friend. Your dignity, your control over your own work environment, your professionalism have all been taken from you. Your 20 pieces of silver are all you have left. And now they're coming after that. This has to stop. If we are ever going to advance, we will have to stop retreating.
And now someone has drawn a line for you and said "no further" You really need to thank them.
Now I know a lot of you say your concerns lie elsewhere, with issues that are not financial. Working conditions, cuts in tech hours, orders to pump out the flu shots with no additional resources. Hell, most of you can't even take a piss when you have to go. But someone is threatening to punch one of your tormentors in the face. And you know what happens then?
They start listening to you. Because they don't want to get punched in the face again. They even start to take you seriously.
Are you being listened to now? Being taken seriously are you? If not what's your plan for being listened to and respected in the future? It starts here. Whether you like it or not, you are not neutral in this. Wherever you work, for whoever you work for in the retail pharmacy world, you are on a side.
Are you going to hide and keep quiet so you don't rock the boat? That's been your strategy so far. How's that been working out for you?
Or are you going to stand with the people who are saying "no further." I'll point out here that the UFCW represents workers at CVS as well.
No further. It. Stops. Here. UFCW's email is info@ufcwrx.com You may want to drop them a line and ask if there's anything you can do to help. Or at least give them a few kind words.
It is pretty much the least you can do.
10 comments:
I'll be very interested to see how this plays out. Union power has been drastically reduced in today's business environment, however, a 6000 person strong union for a company the size of RAD is still formidable. I don't know if you remember the strike by the Ohio union employees a while back but that went nowhere. RAD simply called in employees from the surrounding areas to fill the positions vacated by the striking employees and there seemed to be plenty of them willing to do the work. However, I believe that strike only encompassed a handful of stores in the Cleveland area and was nowhere near the number of employees. My hope is that they do strike and achieve something of a "victory", whatever that may be. It can only be beneficial to those employed in this industry.
I have wanted to post something like this on my site and you have given me an idea. Cheers.
Yes. Well. I wish them luck and victory. Here on the East Coast,our powerful and benevolent union - none other than the SEIU 1199, was about to give away the whole package almost three years ago. A few (very few) Pharmacists saw the value of attending the negotiations and preventing the wholesale dismantle of our benefits package. The Union is interested in collectig dues - period. We agreed to accept a 2 year wage freeze and be granted our pathetic raises retroactively this year. I do not recall being told that we would wait until AUGUST 2012 (and when in August still seems to be a mystery). Uhmmm...doesn't that make it more than 2 years? In the meantime, RiteAid has gone about firing as many tenured and higher paid workers as possible this year. Seems that a little known stipulation to getting that Back-Pay is being employed by RiteAid when it is finally - if ever - paid out.Scores of 18 year olds are being hired for four hour shifts, thrown into the Pharmacy to "type" prescriptions, and "fill" vials.With no training, no knowledge, and apparently no concern these dues paying, un-benefitted, low-payed, children are serving your medicinal meal. When the robot ran out of 5mg Enalapril one asked me why we couldn't just use the 20mg she helpfully pulled off the shelf? Another was baffled by the fact that the cash register ran out of paper. She truly could not understand why that would happen - and she is a COLLEGE STUDENT!I have seen more medication errors in 2 months than I have in 10 years - in the Pharmacy, where as a PTCB certified tech of 6 years I earn less than $10.50 hourly. So Good Luck California.
Nice to see 'em grow a pair.
I’ll have to admit I have no experience with unions, and am still on the fence about them. (TechTard’s above anti-union rant certainly isn’t the first one I’ve seen online). I work in a CVS district where none of the stores are unionized.
As far as going on strike, pharmacists as well as other health care workers who took professional oaths are facing a double edged sword. In one respect, we may be abandoning the immediate needs of our patients (although, I’m sure there are plenty of scabs these days who could fill in on short notice). But on the other hand, it certainly is one way to draw attention to the bigger picture of working conditions that endanger our patients.
But I seem to recall a letter in the mail some 3 or 4 years ago discouraging all CVS employees from engaging with with union leaders and warning us about their high pressure sales tactics. I think there was a vote about unionizing in my home store around that time, which obviously didn’t pass.
In digging a little further, a vote on that proposed strike in Southern California is happening in UFCW local 324 http://www.ufcw324.org/News/. They also have a division specifically representing pharmacists, the UFCW Professional Division http://www.ufcwsocalrx.org/, which apparently holds one seat on the state board and takes credit for legislation requiring meal breaks for pharmacists in California.
UFCW members (including pharmacists) did strike in Southern California in 2003-2004 from October to March. Only a handful of pharmacists crossed the picket line. The companies found other pharmacists willing to do so and the customers did just fine. So one need not worry about professional responsibility.
Sadly, in these economic times and with the glut of pharmacists, a strike is the worst idea in the world. There are thousands of unemployed and underemployed folks out there willing to work under any conditions. I will pray for my union brothers and sisters.
This was a well-written post, DrugMonkey. It really moved me.
I don't know anything about "the profession" aside from what I read on your blog, but I know something about corporate retail. They treat workers as if they hated workers. They will give you as little as they possibly can.
I wish you guys all the best in your struggle. I fear that you'll need it.
Just curious... What exactly are the current benefits vs. the proposed benefits? I ask because I am in the SE and we are a right to work state. Unions have never really caught on here, and I was just wondering how different the benefits are between union and non-union stores. Our pharmacists get a break for lunch, depending on which healthcare plan you picked you pay out of pocket between 5000 and 8000, and we have enough paid time off that most of us are scrambling to use it by the end of the year. I have never actually spoken with a unionized employee, so I have no idea what your benefits are like. Personally, I am pretty happy with mine, but it may just be because in a RTW state, mine are considered generous. Please don't think I am bashing or being funny... I honestly would like to know what is going on out there. Thanks!
I would be willing to help start a pharmacy union in Alabama. I work forCVS and they are pushing us to the point nearly all the pharmacist are ready to quit. With their new we care program it makes us like workers at a burger place not a professional pharmacy regardless of their spin.
The time has come for pharmacist in Alabama to stop our abuse at the hands of the big chains. The workload continues to expand and the pace and stress is at a dangerous level for pharmacist and consumer safety. Most pharmacist have been afraid to speak up because of retribution from employers. If we band together and act as one body we can make changes. Otherwise we will continue to be their slaves and work at conditions worse than a burger joint.
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