Hello all,

We are tired. We are worried sick for our patients. We have been pushed past the brink of exhaustion. It has always been rough working for these corporations, but COVID-19 has made it unbearable. Job dissatisfaction among pharmacists and technicians is at an all-time high. We are a subjugated workforce and it’s time for change.

This petition is a testament to the exhaustion of pharmacy workers everywhere and we hope that the traction it has gained will amplify systemic issues in pharmacy. PBM abuse, unsafe working conditions that lead to preventable medical errors that threaten lives, and so on are all issues that need to reach a national audience. Not only have we been beaten down, but patient lives are at stake.

We hope that this petition reaches media outlets. We want to see pharmacy covered everywhere -- on 60 Minutes, nightly news broadcasts, late-night talk shows, and so on.

Without further adieu, here’s why chain pharmacy corporations need to be blasted in the press.

DISMAL WORKING CONDITIONS:

We are subject to long working hours (and consequent punishment for working overtime), minimal lunch/bathroom breaks, chronic short-staffing, and the tyranny of higher-ups imposing unreasonable performance metrics on us (including but not limited to the number of inoculations we administer, making phone calls to patients, the expedience with which prescriptions are filled, and so on). We are unable to properly meet the needs of our patients given the enormous pressures we are subject to. 

THE DANGERS OUR WORKING CONDITIONS PRESENT TO PATIENTS

Chronic short-staffing makes it impossible to fill prescriptions safely. We are expected to verify one prescription per minute, which gives us little time to review our patients' health profiles and ensure the safety/appropriateness of the medications they are prescribed (we barely have time to contest insurance company rejections so as to make medications affordable to our patients!). Oftentimes, pharmacies are staffed with a single pharmacist and a single technician. Staff are overextended given the workload, with some stores having to meet quotas of up to 1000+ prescriptions per day. Moreover, pharmacists, whose duty it is to proofread prescribers' work and make clinical judgements, are deprived of lunch breaks and are running on fumes. In fact, we can barely find time to take bathroom breaks given these strenuous conditions.

CORPORATE CONSOLIDATION, VIOLATIONS OF ANTITRUST LAWS, AND FRAUD

These companies outcompete and buy out family-owned pharmacies. The impact is felt hardest in rural areas, where patients already have limited options in terms of healthcare. PBMs (the largest of which is owned by CVS) are predatory. Chain pharmacy companies’ ownership of both large insurance companies and dispensaries funnels patients into using their services, thus maximizing their profits. This impedes patients' freedom of choice in the healthcare services they are rendered. PBMs also hike up drug pricing and slash reimbursements, further contributing to the massive die-off of independent pharmacies. Not to mention, CVS' plan launch HealthHUBs and expand into providing other health services may affect independent primary care practices in the way that independent pharmacies have been affected.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Our state pharmacy boards are supposed to protect us and our patients, but upper-management employees affiliated with chain pharmacy companies staff these boards and protect the interests of said companies. This stalls due process investigations of/the imposition of criminal penalties on chain pharmacies for violations of worker's rights, the incidence of medication errors resulting in patient harm due to strenuous working conditions, and other issues that have legal ramifications.

CONCLUSION

Change is long overdue. As I've hopefully illustrated, chain pharmacies not only subjugate their workers, but harm patients. We must all unite not only to pressure massive corporations into restructuring their business models so that chain pharmacies become hospitable places to work, but so that chain pharmacies become patient-friendly healthcare resources. 

If you share, it would help boost our campaign if you used the following hashtags:

#PizzaIsNotWorking

#SheWaited

#StopPBMabuse

#PandemicProfiteering

#FixRx

#SupportPharmacyWorkers

#SavePharmacies

#PharmacyStrong