Some Quit Strike at Walgreen

Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drugstore chain, said Thursday that more than 200 pharmacists quit their union and returned to work after a strike began Wednesday night at hundreds of stores in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana over staffing levels.

The number represents nearly 20% of the pharmacists who walked out, Walgreen said. The company also expanded store hours at some locations where they had been cut for the strike.

The National Pharmacists Assn., which represents 1,200 Walgreen pharmacists at 400 stores in the Chicago area, went on strike after rejecting a contract offer and authorizing the action last week.

The union contends that Walgreen has inadequate staffing levels that require pharmacists to work on too many prescriptions a day, risking patient safety. Walgreen offered workers a new four-year contract that included a 20% pay raise, giving the average pharmacist a salary of more than $100,000, company spokesman Michael Polzin said.

Matt Demo, a spokesman for the union, could not be reached for comment Thursday about the number of pharmacists who resigned or returned to work.

Walgreen pharmacists almost never have the minimum of three minutes that are needed to safely fill a prescription because of understaffing, the union said in a statement released Thursday.

The company is “aggressively attempting to break the union” by eliminating union security, payroll deduction for dues and the ability to initiate a work action, the statement said.

Walgreen is operating some pharmacies with reduced hours using pharmacy managers and technicians to replace the striking workers.

The pharmacists have been working without a contract with the Deerfield, Ill.-based company since June 12.