CVS pharmacies workers at seven Southern California stores have gone on a strike to protest against low wages and poor health benefits stating it as “bad-faith contract bargaining by the company.”
As per Fox News, employees at four Los Angeles stores and 3 Orange County stores began to strike on Friday, October 18, which is continued till now.
According to Saturday reports, the workers at one of the four LA stores even urged the customers to not step inside the store. Meanwhile, the seven stores are being operated by managers and nonunion employees.
The strike, which was approved through a voting process on September 29, had over 90% votes in favor of the protest. The voting involved two local United Food and Commercial Workers unions.
Reportedly, the employees have planned to carry out the strike until further negotiations which are decided to resume on Wednesday, October 23, 2024.
Amy Thibault, company’s spokesperson, in her statement said, “We're disappointed that our UFCW member colleagues have gone on strike at a few select locations in the Los Angeles area.”
She added that the company is working to make a final contract and has reached “tentative agreements” in order to raise pay and also increase the company’s health insurance contributions.
However, as per a pharmacy technician, Melissa Acosta, the company is “intimidating workers, observing them, getting in the way of them speaking to union representatives.”
“In my nine years of working with CVS, I’ve never been able to afford their health care plan,” she added.
“We have to call (patients) constantly to get flu shots, push vaccines. This is a lot of extra work we're expected to do, on top of filling medications at the pharmacy,” complained Carlos Alfaro, a technician at CVS.
Besides healthcare benefits and improved wages, the workers are also demanding better store security.
