Over the weekend, unionized pharmacy workers at seven CVS pharmacies in Southern California went on strike to protest the company’s Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs). In August, UFCW Locals in California representing CVS workers filed unfair labor practice charges against CVS for unlawful surveillance of workers, retaliation for union activity, and prohibiting employees from engaging in union activity. The company has been in negotiations with the unions since May, trying to reach a tentative contract agreement for better pay and health insurance and safer staffing levels.
The average CVS clerk makes less than $20 an hour and can’t afford to buy insurance from CVS, who is also a health insurance company. CVS made $11 billion in profits in 2023, and paid its CEO over $21 million. The livable wage in California for an adult with one child is $48.03, according to MIT.
“We’re disappointed that our UFCW member colleagues have gone on strike at seven locations in the Los Angeles area,” the company said in a statement. “Over the course of these discussions, we’ve made progress on finalizing a contract and have already reached tentative agreements that will increase the rate of pay for store associates. We look forward to reconvening with UFCW to continue negotiations and hope to finalize an agreement soon.”
We spoke with two CVS pharmacy technicians and UFCW 770 members, Marquis Jackson and Cecilia Menjivar, about why they went on strike and what they are hoping to achieve.
Errol Schweizer: Why were you out on the picket lines?
Marquis Jackson: Basically, they’re doing a lot of unfair practices right now, on top of the fact that they’re not paying us a livable wage. I have people that are working for this company 10, 20 years. They’re not making even $20 an hour. We have people like myself, I’m a lead tech and supervising tech at my pharmacy and I can’t even afford their health coverage. The medications I fill on a daily basis, I can’t even afford to get myself. We’ve been in negotiations with CVS. CVS owns Caremark and Aetna, and they have flat out refused to help us get proper health care. They just tell us they’re not interested, not that they can’t do it.
Cecilia Menjivar: We don’t have safety in some of these stores. One of the young ladies that gave a speech yesterday talked about how she had a gun pointed at her head when a store was robbed. CVS doesn’t care. They’re trying to intimidate workers. They’re trying to seek retribution against workers that are strong within the union. They’re trying to keep us from having union representation, trying to keep the union reps out of stores.
CVS workers on the picket lines in October 2024.
Errol: Could you tell us a bit about the job itself, what you do in the stores?
Cecilia: It’s about filling one prescription after another, one after another, after another. It is about numbers and numbers and adding up the numbers. And at the end of the day, after two hours, after three to four hours, it is so mentally strenuous. It’s not about our health. It’s not about mental health. It’s not about our security. It’s not about us as employees.
Marquis: With CVS, they’re finding more and more ways to put pharmacy duties on the technicians. I am a certified vaccinator. I shouldn’t be giving vaccinations. Pharmacists should be giving a vaccination. That should be a nurse’s job. They allow me to do it. The thing is, they don’t even want to pay me properly for that. They only want to pay me $2.00 extra when I actually vaccinate. Giving somebody a vaccination is not a small thing. You can get the wrong person, the wrong vaccination. Things can go wrong. You inject somebody wrong. Things can go real bad. They just treat it so lightly and so casually. And to just think that an extra $2.00 every now and then is sufficient.
Cecilia: When somebody drops off a medication, if that insurance doesn’t go through, we have to go and find a way to make that insurance go through. That is not something you learn in school. You have to learn that hands on. You have to go there and experience and, bare minimum, most people take at least a year or two before they actually figure out how to do the work, how to get medications to go through on a regular basis, and if not, you have to deal with patients who are coming to you at the worst moments. They’re sick, they’re tired. They’ve gone to the doctor. They might have gone to the ER. They spent all day doing that. Now they come to you, and basically you’re the last line of defense, and insurance hasn’t gone through. They’re even more pissed.
I am now past my fifth year. So when you are five years into the working that position, you get paid $24.90 as a five year Pharmacy Technician. It’s not enough to the cost in living in California, it is not enough to cover my roof. It is a shameful hourly rate that I don’t deserve for everything I do in a pharmacy, everything I put up with in my heart. I build relationships with the community. I go forward. I am the front line. I am the face of CVS and to them I am only worth $24.90.
UFCW members at a rally outside of CVS in Souther California.
Errol: So the people who are filling the prescriptions of life saving, life sustaining medications are half a living wage of what it would take to live in Southern California, one of the most expensive metro areas in the United States. So my question for both of you, what are you asking for? Why were you on strike?
Marquis: I have people that have worked in this industry that make less than $20 an hour when they can just quit and go to Carl’s Junior or McDonald’s or any fast food place, and they can start making $20 an hour right away. We’re asking for better wages, right? We’re not asking to get rich. We’re not asking for them to break the bank. We’re asking for livable wages. We’re asking for them to give us what other people in our same positions, in different industries, in the same industry, across different pharmacies, what they’re making.
Cecilia: We want a livable wage. We want to ensure we can take care of ourselves and take care of our family when we get sick, whenever we need it. We want to be able to come to work and be safe. We want to have enough staff so that way the patients don’t have to wait 20, 30, 40, 50, minutes to get one medication. We want to be able to have enough staff to where we’re not stressed out. We’re not physically and mentally beat down on a daily basis. All they care about is making sure they make the money, making sure we hit our numbers. That’s they don’t give a damn about us.
Errol: What is the future of the pharmacy sector?
Marquis: I’ve seen basically a lot of companies that are giving themselves self-inflicted wounds. They’re basically running themselves out of the business because they tried to monopolize the system. We’re wasting money having pharmacies two blocks from each other. One pharmacy is eating the next one, instead of having more profitable stores. Now, they basically have stores right next to each other, and they’re not making the money they thought they were.
And when CVS took over Target’s pharmacies, techs were pissed because they got away from CVS specifically, and they’re stuck with them again. So CVS is basically their own worst enemy. When a good pharmacist would get a chance to leave, they’re gone. They don’t want to work there. They don’t want to deal with the crap CVS puts them through. In places like Walgreens and Rite Aid, they’re doing the same exact thing.
You might as well go to Ralph’s. You might as well go to Walmart. You might as well go to Kaiser. You might as well find somewhere else that actually appreciates you as a customer and appreciates your money instead of coming to someplace like CVS that doesn’t give a damn about you.
Cecilia: I am a Spanish speaking person. I’m actually doing a lot of the pharmacist’s translation. I am translating as the pharmacist tells them A, B and C, and then I have to explain it in Spanish. I need to explain to them in Spanish, a consultation, a drug interaction, and there is no pay differential pay for me using my own language, speaking the language of a customer. There is no incentive for that.
Errol: What can folks do to support you?
Marquis: Stop shopping at CVS. If you got basic needs, go to another grocery store, go to another union store. But please don’t shop at CVS at all for medications. They’re making all their profits off flu vaccinations and Covid-19 vaccinations. If they don’t get their vaccinations, they go somewhere else. That means CVS is not making that money. That means they’re getting hurt in the pocket. And when they’re getting hurt in the pocket, they actually listen to us.
Cecilia: So we’re asking everybody to help us talk with your money. Take your business to another place, take your business to another union store, another union pharmacy, have them give you a vaccination and get your basic needs. There’s tons of other stores you can go to.