Two CVS stores become the latest to join the national pharmacists unionization movement
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Pharmacists decrying worsening working conditions are gaining momentum in their national effort to unionize as two CVS stores in the company’s home state of Rhode Island prepare to file petitions Friday to join the newly created Pharmacy Guild.
They become the second and third sites to officially seek membership in the guild. A CVS-owned Omnicare pharmacy in Las Vegas filed the first petition in late March.
Both of the Rhode Island pharmacies are 24-hour, standalone CVS stores in the southern part of the state – one is Wakefield; the other in Westerly – each about an hour from the company’s corporate headquarters in the Providence suburb of Woonsocket. The two stores have about nine pharmacists between them; other staff at the locations, including pharmacy technicians, are not part of the filings, organizers told USA TODAY.
“These stores are in CVS’ own backyard, and they had an overwhelming majority of pharmacists on board to file,” said Shane Jerominski, a California pharmacist and one of the founding members of The Pharmacy Guild. “If that many pharmacists in CVS’s backyard feel unsafe and not supported by management, that speaks volumes about what the rest of the stores look like across the country.”
The petitions are not expected to be publicly accessible until Monday at the earliest, but the guild notified CVS of the stores’ intentions in a letter sent to the company this week.
Workers from several more CVS pharmacies in Rhode Island also plan to file petitions in the coming weeks, with those across other states – and even other pharmacy chains – eyeing similar action, said Rachel Gumpert, a spokeswoman for The Pharmacy Guild.
The guild, which is under the umbrella of IAM Healthcare – a union that represents over 12,000 health care professionals and is itself part of the powerful International Association of Machinists and Aerospace – formed late last year in the wake of a series of high-profile walkouts by CVS and Walgreens pharmacists.
Walkout organizers at the time denounced what they called untenable working conditions that jeopardize patient safety, as well as their own mental health.
Pharmacists for years have warned about short staffing levels combined with the rising pressure of corporate performance goals, which they say push a dwindling number of workers to handle an ever-increasing number of prescriptions, vaccinations and other tasks.
“Pharmacists shouldn’t have to cry at work or go home worried that they made a mistake," said Corey Schneider, a CVS pharmacist who participated in the Kansas City walkout in September, during an interview with USA TODAY last year.
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Those sentiments were echoed by one the CVS pharmacists in Rhode Island in a statement to USA TODAY.
“CVS is an industry leader, so there is no excuse for any barrier in delivering the safe staffing levels necessary for our patients to receive excellent, accurate, and timely care 24/7 in our stores," said the pharmacist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. "We’re unionizing in CVS’ home state so we can gain a seat at the table to demand that patient's needs always come first.”
CVS Health Corporation owns the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chain with more than 9,600 locations from coast to coast. It also owns the pharmacy benefits manager, CVS Caremark; a health insurance provider; and other brands, such as Omnicare.
The corporation earned $8.3 billion in profits last year.
Michael DeAngelis, CVS’ executive director of corporate communications, said the company respects its employees’ right to unionize but believes a direct two-way relationship between CVS and its employees is the best way to resolve workplace concerns.
He also said the company has spent significant time and energy improving pay, strengthening training and reducing workload so staff can “better focus on patient care.”
“We’re continually investing in our pharmacy teams’ wages and working conditions,” DeAngelis said. “Since 2021, we’ve invested roughly $1 billion in wage increases and, in 2024, we’re awarding tens of millions of dollars in bonuses to recognize and thank our pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.”
Although CVS employees are the first to file petitions to join, the guild is open to all pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other pharmacy workers regardless of their employer or setting.
That includes those behind the counter at community pharmacies owned by chains, such as Walgreens or Kroger, filling prescriptions inside hospital pharmacies, or even distributing medication to networks of nursing homes, like the nearly 30 employees of the CVS-owned Omnicare who were the first to file their petition last month.
Petitions are filed with the National Labor Relations Board, the independent federal agency that safeguards employees’ rights to unionize and which schedules and oversees elections for petitioners.
An election for eligible employees at the Las Vegas Omnicare is scheduled for April 24. The guild has been monitoring the location for instances of employer pushback or intimidation, Gumpert said.
Although Omnicare isn't located inside a store, organizers said, its workers face similar pressures exacerbated by inadequate staffing and corporate demands. Workers there said they want to unionize not only to protect themselves, but to protect their patients.
“It’s our job to be their advocates," one of the Omnicare workers said on the condition of anonymity to protect their job, "and we refuse to settle for anything less than the safe staffing standards and excellent care outcomes they deserve.”
The pharmacy unionization effort is part of a national resurgence in organized labor across multiple industries, including companies like Starbucks, Apple and Amazon.
Unions filed nearly 2,600 petitions for elections in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, a 3% increase from the previous year and a surge of nearly 60% since 2021 and won a near-record 76% of elections held, according to Reuters, which analyzed data from the National Labor Relations Board.
“I’m ready for CVS to take us seriously; I’m ready for Walmart to take us seriously,” Jerominski said, “because we’re just going to keep growing.”
Emily Le Coz is a reporter on the USA TODAY investigations team. Contact her at elecoz@usatoday.com or on X @emily_lecoz.