Enough is Enough – It's time to talk to our patients
Buttons and QR cards are coming next week
We spent two days this week with Ralphs and Albertsons to bargain our new contract. The companies tried to justify lower pay for grocery pharmacists compared to CVS and other retail pharmacists by saying you don’t work as hard as they do. Don’t worry, we set the record straight.
We made it clear that while all union pharmacists play a critical role in patient care, grocery pharmacists take on a broader scope of responsibilities, with heavier workloads and a wider range of services. This includes administering specialty injections, managing high-volume flu vaccination seasons, handling travel medications, prescribing hormonal contraceptives, and often working with cross-trained clerks instead of dedicated technicians. These differences, along with many others not fully captured at the table, make it clear that this comparison does not reflect the full reality of our work.
What do you think the companies’ response was? Yep. They didn’t care. So we used our downtime to go to nearby Albertsons and Ralphs pharmacies to speak to the pharmacists who were working there and tell them what our next steps in our campaign are and how important it is to involve our patients in our fight for a fair contract.
Earlier this year, we put out a survey to our patients that examined wait times, service conditions, and medication safety. We want more patients to fill out that survey so we can show the companies that what we’re asking for is also needed by their patients. The individual locals will be distributing buttons and lanyards with QR codes to the survey in the upcoming week., so wear your buttons and QR cards every shift to start conversations with your patients and ask them to fill out the survey to fight alongside us. Every response ensures safer conditions and better care for our patients and ourselves.
We’re also scheduling handbill actions in front of our stores to ensure our patients know about the survey and why we’re involving them in the campaign. Look out for more information shortly on those actions from your local union.
We have new bargaining dates on May 11 and 12, and if you’re welcome to attend. We’ll send you another update after those sessions, but in the meantime, come out to our customer actions. We know when patients speak up, it puts real pressure on the companies to do what’s right. And if the companies won’t listen to us, they’ll for sure listen to our patients.
If you have any questions about bargaining, contact your union representative to attend our next session.
If there is anything else we can do to support you, please do not hesitate to reach out to your Bargaining Committee Members, Union Representatives or Stewards.
In Solidarity,
Your UFCW Pharmacist Bargaining Committee
