CVS workers strike at 7 Southern California stores for better pay and health care

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Workers at seven CVS pharmacies in Southern California have gone on strike for better pay and health care and to protest what they say is bad-faith contract bargaining by the company.

The walkout, which affected four stores in Los Angeles and three in Orange County, began Friday morning and continued into the weekend. On Saturday outside one of the LA stores, strikers urged customers not to cross the picket lines.

Melissa Acosta, a pharmacy technician who is on the contract bargaining committee, accused the company of “intimidating workers, observing them, getting in the way of them speaking to union representatives.”

The CVS locations affected have remained open, staffed by managers and nonunion employees.

Workers planned to continue picketing until negotiations resume Wednesday. The strike was authorized by a vote of the two local United Food and Commercial Workers unions involved on Sept. 29, with more than 90% in favor.

“We're disappointed that our UFCW member colleagues have gone on strike at a few select locations in the Los Angeles area,” company spokesperson Amy Thibault said in a statement.

Thibault said CVS has made progress on getting to a final contract and reached “tentative agreements” to raise pay and increase the company's health insurance contributions.

Acosta said she cannot meet the cost of the insurance CVS offers and instead is 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.

Major pharmacy chains across the country have been struggling with costs and online competition. CEO Karen Lynch of CVS Health, which owns the chain, recently stepped down as shares dropped 19%. CVS is nearing the end of a three-year plan to close 900 stores.

CVS pharmacy technicians, who are required to complete an extensive training program and satisfy licensing requirements, currently make $24.90 an hour after five years on the job, according to the union.

Carlos Alfaro, a technician who joined the strike, said stores are understaffed as the flu season begins.

“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 increasingly locked up items as an anti-shoplifting measure, forcing customers to get assistance from employees. Workers say that further exacerbates the understaffing problem.

“There are so many customers that don’t get help and have to constantly wait to get something unlocked,” said Acosta. “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 asking for better store security, among other demands.