Well-Being
Loren Bonner
At the end of September, over 30 CVS pharmacists in the Kansas City metro area walked off the job. Their reason? Working conditions that put patients at risk.
Several pharmacy organizations released statements in support of the Kansas City pharmacists after news of the walkouts broke. The Kansas Pharmacists Association, APhA, and others all said they stand with the Kansas City pharmacists.
Pharmacy Today sat down with Ed Smith, PharmD, one of the leaders of the walkout in Kansas City, to hear about how he came to lead a national movement and get CVS to hear—and address—pharmacists’ concerns.
Smith has been a staff pharmacist with CVS in the Kansas City area since 1998.
How would you describe your life as a pharmacist over the past year?
Honestly, it’s been one of the most fulfilling years of my career—the lows so low and the highs so high.
Things have settled down now. The last thing we are fighting for with CVS—and continue to do so—is a pay raise for our technicians. The pharmacy technician role is by far the most important job in all of CVS, and they are extremely underpaid and deserve a livable wage. Their hourly rates are still at a prepandemic level, which is $16 an hour. A lot of people are frustrated.
How did you go from being a frustrated pharmacist to leading a movement of walkouts?
I had just transitioned to the Target store sector [CVS pharmacies inside of Target stores]. CVS terminated the district leader, whom everyone loved.
He stood up for his pharmacists several times, and the consequence for protecting his people was that he was terminated.
For example, he didn’t force pharmacists to move from their stores inside of Target to a core store [freestanding CVS stores] against their will. I felt that he basically fell on the sword for his people. This termination upset a lot of pharmacists within the district, and a lot of those pharmacists contacted me to discuss their frustration.
Then CVS adjusted the hours of operation for six pharmacies inside Target and closed them on the weekends to free up these pharmacists to fill in at core stores that CVS was struggling to
staff. CVS was forcing these pharmacists into stores that were weeks behind—upward of 1,700 scripts behind.
This and the firing of the district leader were the catalysts for the September 20 and 21, 2023, walkouts.
The environments that the CVS-Target pharmacists were being forced into and that the core store pharmacists had to deal with on a daily basis compromised the safety of patients.
We discussed as a group what we could do to make a statement. After the covering district leader ignored the feedback I gave him regarding what was needed to settle things down, the only thing left to do was stage a walkout. It’s extreme, but there needed to be some public shaming in order for CVS to listen to our concerns.
How have your actions resulted in changes for CVS?
CVS management agreed to eight goals we proposed for change. They include:
- Leadership that is transparent, supportive, and not punitive.
- Consistent pharmacy hours, as consistently changing store hours as a Band-Aid for your staffing needs negatively impacts both colleagues and patients.
- Removal of extra, nonessential workflow tasks across the industry while working conditions stabilize, not over 120 vaccines with only one pharmacist on duty.
- Increased hourly rates for technicians to be competitive in a postpandemic market.
- Consistent staffing levels to allow technicians to keep their benefits in all stores regardless of volume.
- Reliable technology that allows staff to efficiently do their job without using the upgrade as an excuse to remove more pharmacist overlap and technician hours from stores.
- Appropriate number of technician and pharmacist hours based on workflow demands to humanely and safely serve patients.
- More competitive pay for pharmacy interns and a real-life training program that allows for proper training with the goal of developing the next leaders in this industry.
How do you hope to be involved with advancing the profession of pharmacy going forward?
Right now, my job is to hold CVS accountable for their past actions, but more importantly to the commitments they made to us in October 2023.
At press time, CVS management has addressed all except points four and eight, which involve pharmacy technicians. ■