It's like an “early 1900s
factory”
Walgreens pharmacy workers
in Michigan speak out against harsh working conditions
By George
Kirby
29 August 2017
Workers at Walgreens’ Specialty Pharmacies throughout the country
are facing increasingly harsh working conditions as profit margins from the company’s
drug business decline. Walgreens, the second-largest pharmacy store chain in
the United States, operates specialty pharmacies in many of its over 1,800
stores nationwide, processing prescriptions for complex medical conditions such
as chemotherapy and AIDS.
Similar to the notorious Amazon fulfillment centers, the Walgreens
Specialty Pharmacies are large distribution plants in which workers are
expected to meet high packing and production standards for low hourly wages.
The pharmacies employ a wide array of workers—from pharmacists and
pharmacy technicians, to packers and supervisors. Workers on the fulfillment
team for Walgreens Specialty Pharmacies are a group of pharmacy technicians who
are engaged in processing and packaging prescription orders for shipment.
Pharmacy technicians receive prescriptions from the Walgreens call center,
label, fill prescriptions and send them to pharmacists, who check the
specificities of each prescription. At the end of the process, packers package
prescriptions for shipping standards.
Fulfillment workers at a Michigan Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy
recently spoke to WSWS reporters about their experience in the fulfillment
center. They asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing their jobs.
Workers on the fulfillment team are among the most highly
exploited. One worker explained that employees are often hired through
recruitment offices who seek out people to work the fulfillment jobs at the
lowest possible rates. “All of the workers complete the same job,” the work
said. “We are recruited by various outlets but are given different pay.”
Temporary worker pay fluctuates from $10 to $15 per hour, while the pay scale
for a permanent worker can range from $16 to $18 per hour. This creates a scenario
in which two employees working side by side, performing the exact same job,
could have a pay discrepancy as high as $8 an hour.
Specialty pharmacy employees are placed into various stations
designated by a particular drug and illness. Despite serious health concerns
that come with handling many of these strong prescription drugs, workers are
given only minor safety precautions. Those packing chemotherapy drugs, for
example, are given only a pair of safety gloves and warning that if they are of
childbearing age they must be wary.
Conditions in the filling center are very stressful. The
management staff pushes the mantra of “working as a team,” while simultaneously
promoting competition between the workers and enforcing strict rules to prevent
fraternization. “We are constantly in competition with each other on the floor
packing and making sure we fill more prescriptions than others and discouraged
to work with one another,” one worker said.
Those who do not question the status quo are targeted for
positions in management, regardless of productivity. Workers report that those
who protest conditions or question company policy come under fire from
management. “Some of us who question the procedures are given less of a chance
at raises or promotions or full-time employment,” one worker noted. “When we
pose questions to each other we are constantly warned by management about how
it’s counterproductive. It seems like they want us to simply work methodically
and mechanically.”
Like workers at Amazon’s fulfillment centers, Walgreens workers
are expected to stay silent and work quickly and accurately. “When there’s a
question for our managers to help us be more productive it is hard to contact
them. But when we ask the rest of our fulfillment team [our coworkers] on the
floor we get notified by management for talking too much and are emailed for
time wasted. In one of our meetings someone asked about our inconsistent
production methods and the supervisor rejected her question and said the
meeting only had a few minutes.”
Workers complain about the high stress levels caused by the
unrealistic production demands as well as constant surveillance by management.
“Constantly [the manager] is watching us by pretending to help people or
watching the cameras,” one said. “Then we are expected to go to meetings to
discuss our low production when we are packing higher than our goals. Right
before lunch and other breaks they talk about how more managers are going to
come in. Not only are we watched, but at the start of the day we are sent
discouraging emails. An email comes in by management in the morning saying it
is going to be a tough day, then we work 10 hours.”
Fulfillment workers are often personally blamed for mistakes that
are the outcome of the pressure to perform their tasks as quickly as possible:
“If any employee makes mistakes we are personally berated. Then later we are
publicly berated as a team by management.”
Employees on the fulfillment team often work very long hours. “We
have mandatory overtime for the next month, most likely through September,”
explained one worker. “If we have a sick day or try to take a day off we are
sternly rejected or are called by our recruiters or management that we will be
terminated if we take too many days.”
According to another worker, attendance policy is particularly
draconian. Days off must be scheduled well in advance and can be rejected by
management, personal days included. “We are mandated to work 10 hours plus,”
the worker said. “If we call off due to illness, and the days are three
consecutive days, we are given three points towards our attendance. If the days
are not consecutive we will be given six and then be terminated.”
After difficult 10-plus hour shifts, employees are constantly
called by recruiters or management to warn the workers about their attendance.
The overall scheduling policy is promoted by management in meetings as a
flexible way for workers to take advantage of their employment.
Despite numerous requests from workers for more working space at
their stations and more supplies, they are often left to work in cramped areas
with few resources. Response from Walgreens has instead been to hire more
managers to oversee the workers.
Many other workers approached by WSWS reporters declined to be
interviewed, noting that they feared being reprimanded or fired for speaking
out, a fear shared as well by all of the workers who volunteered their
interviews. The employees who spoke to the WSWS all shared disgust of the
working conditions as well as frustration with management. One compared the
strategy of constant surveillance to an “early 1900s factory.”
Some of the most draconian working conditions for fulfillment team
workers were implemented following the launching of a massive “cost-cutting”
plan announced in 2015, which aimed to cut $1.5 billion in costs by the end of
fiscal year 2017. Walgreens, which reported $117.4 billion in global revenue
last year, has historically earned about two-thirds of its US sales from
prescription drugs sold at the pharmacy counter in the back of its stores.
Profits from the prescription drugs have experienced a significant
decline due to a steady reduction in reimbursements from private insurance
companies and the government, which pays for Medicaid and Medicare
prescriptions.
JOE LEGAL v LA RAZA JOSE ILLEGAL
Here’s how it breaks down; will make you want to be an illegal!
…. which one has it good under the Dems??? NOT YOU, STUPID LEGAL!!!
AMERICA: NO LEGAL NEED APPLY
REPORT: The assault to finish off the American middle-class is NOT over
“The report noted that many illegals don't have jobs or have difficulty in landing good jobs because of local laws.”
“However, it identified several states that have begun easing employment laws so that illegals can
get a job.”
It’s Time To Finally Cut Off The Jobs Magnet For Illegal Immigrants
By Robert Law
TheHill.com, August 18, 2017
E-Verify takes the guesswork out of the hiring process and puts all employers on a level playing field. Electronic verification would render counterfeit and stolen documents useless while offering employers an easy tool for ensuring the legality of workers. Although any employer can voluntarily participate now, few do because they either want to hire illegal aliens, or are forced to by the government’s refusal to crack down on competitors that blatantly favor illegal aliens over qualified Americans.
A recent report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) demonstrated the benefits of E-Verify. The study examined 14 states that have created or expanded E-Verify laws since 2009, the year the nation began to bounce back from the last big recession. Those states experienced a much quicker labor market recovery than the nation as a whole.
Why? Because E-Verify ensures that only authorized workers are hired, which not only helps America’s struggling middle and blue collar classes but also injects much-needed revenues into the local tax base as well. Jobs taken by illegal immigrants are most often off the books, with zero payroll taxes collected by local and federal governments.
Trump’s Dumb Dance on Immigration
He will almost certainly let his restrictionist fans down.
By Michael Brendan Dougherty
National Review Online, August 23, 2017
. . .
It is almost certain that Trump will fall far short of the expectations of his restrictionist fans now. He told you he wasn’t serious. He practically mocked his supporters and admitted that the wall was just to get their juices flowing: “If it gets a little boring . . . I just say, ‘We will build the wall!’” You can’t say that you weren’t told.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450733/trump-immigration-promises-will-not-be-kept
Time To Clean Up The H-1B Visa Mill
The Tuscaloosa News, August 16, 2017
Employers and some economists are at odds over the extent to which companies face a shortage of American workers to fill tech and other skilled jobs. A frequently cited figure of 500,000 unfilled positions may be somewhat inflated, but there is no doubt that U.S. colleges and universities cannot keep up with the demand for graduates, especially with advanced and highly specialized degrees.
Hence the importance of the H-1B program, which grants 85,000 visas annually to guest workers, nearly three-quarters of them from India -- a fraction of the overall applications. Of that number, many have only bachelor’s degrees and are chosen by lottery; just 20,000 are foreign graduates of U.S. universities with advanced degrees.
Reforms are needed on several fronts. For starters, H-1B visa holders already in the country should be allowed to change jobs to prevent their exploitation by employers. More fundamentally, the program should be retooled to ensure that genuinely high-skilled labor is prioritized, not that of entry- level programmers. That may disadvantage the big Indian outsourcing firms that flood the system with applications; so be it.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/20170416/editorial-time-to-clean-up-h-1b-visa-mill
Fixing the Great Immigration Swindle: The Battle for Merit Based Immigration Reform
By Mike Scruggs
TheTribunepapers.com, August 10, 2017
The bottom line of our immigration policy is that the small $54.2 Billion economic gain attributed to immigration is heavily outweighed by net government fiscal costs of approximately $172 Billion to support immigrant labor. The economic benefit itself results from an annual $493.9 Billion swindle of American workers, so businesses can boost their profits by importing cheaper foreign labor. Furthermore, the annual $172 Billion fiscal deficit is essentially a transfer of income from taxpayers to governments to benefit businesses that use cheap foreign labor. It is essentially an outrageous business subsidy to hire foreign workers instead of American workers. This is both fiscally and morally irresponsible and an insult to every patriotic American.
. . .
http://www.thetribunepapers.com/2017/08/10/fixing-the-great-immigration-swindle-the-battle-for-merit-based-immigration-reform/
Silicon Valley is Using H-1B Visas to Crowd Out American Minorities
By Tom Broadwater
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 23, 2017
Silicon Valley's highly publicized campaign to hire minorities and women has failed. Black and Hispanic employees combined represent just 5 percent of the tech workforce, and women are outnumbered three to one, according to a new study from the software firm Atlassian.
One reason for this glaring gap between perception and reality? The sector's prolific use of H-1B guest worker visas. Silicon Valley has grossly abused this visa program to take advantage of cheap foreign labor and paper over its diversity problem. Meanwhile, American workers -- especially those of color -- find themselves crowded out of the tech job market.
. . .
http://www.stltoday.com/opinion/columnists/silicon-valley-is-using-h--b-visas-to-crowd/article_2c3ac63c-360a-5c79-88b2-729d8673aa28.html
AMERICA UNRAVELS:
Millions of children go hungry as the super- rich gorge themselves and ILLEGALS SUCK IN BILLIONS IN WELFARE!
In the state of California, of which Los Angeles is a large part, most payouts to illegals go first to educate them, and then to jail them after they commit crimes, and then to pay for their medical care as they clog up emergency rooms and help themselves to Medi-Cal benefits from funds they never paid into. Welfare itself rates a distant fourth.
get a job.”
It’s Time To Finally Cut Off The Jobs Magnet For Illegal Immigrants
By Robert Law
TheHill.com, August 18, 2017
E-Verify takes the guesswork out of the hiring process and puts all employers on a level playing field. Electronic verification would render counterfeit and stolen documents useless while offering employers an easy tool for ensuring the legality of workers. Although any employer can voluntarily participate now, few do because they either want to hire illegal aliens, or are forced to by the government’s refusal to crack down on competitors that blatantly favor illegal aliens over qualified Americans.
A recent report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) demonstrated the benefits of E-Verify. The study examined 14 states that have created or expanded E-Verify laws since 2009, the year the nation began to bounce back from the last big recession. Those states experienced a much quicker labor market recovery than the nation as a whole.
Why? Because E-Verify ensures that only authorized workers are hired, which not only helps America’s struggling middle and blue collar classes but also injects much-needed revenues into the local tax base as well. Jobs taken by illegal immigrants are most often off the books, with zero payroll taxes collected by local and federal governments.
Trump’s Dumb Dance on Immigration
He will almost certainly let his restrictionist fans down.
By Michael Brendan Dougherty
National Review Online, August 23, 2017
. . .
It is almost certain that Trump will fall far short of the expectations of his restrictionist fans now. He told you he wasn’t serious. He practically mocked his supporters and admitted that the wall was just to get their juices flowing: “If it gets a little boring . . . I just say, ‘We will build the wall!’” You can’t say that you weren’t told.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450733/trump-immigration-promises-will-not-be-kept
Time To Clean Up The H-1B Visa Mill
The Tuscaloosa News, August 16, 2017
Employers and some economists are at odds over the extent to which companies face a shortage of American workers to fill tech and other skilled jobs. A frequently cited figure of 500,000 unfilled positions may be somewhat inflated, but there is no doubt that U.S. colleges and universities cannot keep up with the demand for graduates, especially with advanced and highly specialized degrees.
Hence the importance of the H-1B program, which grants 85,000 visas annually to guest workers, nearly three-quarters of them from India -- a fraction of the overall applications. Of that number, many have only bachelor’s degrees and are chosen by lottery; just 20,000 are foreign graduates of U.S. universities with advanced degrees.
Reforms are needed on several fronts. For starters, H-1B visa holders already in the country should be allowed to change jobs to prevent their exploitation by employers. More fundamentally, the program should be retooled to ensure that genuinely high-skilled labor is prioritized, not that of entry- level programmers. That may disadvantage the big Indian outsourcing firms that flood the system with applications; so be it.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/20170416/editorial-time-to-clean-up-h-1b-visa-mill
Fixing the Great Immigration Swindle: The Battle for Merit Based Immigration Reform
By Mike Scruggs
TheTribunepapers.com, August 10, 2017
The bottom line of our immigration policy is that the small $54.2 Billion economic gain attributed to immigration is heavily outweighed by net government fiscal costs of approximately $172 Billion to support immigrant labor. The economic benefit itself results from an annual $493.9 Billion swindle of American workers, so businesses can boost their profits by importing cheaper foreign labor. Furthermore, the annual $172 Billion fiscal deficit is essentially a transfer of income from taxpayers to governments to benefit businesses that use cheap foreign labor. It is essentially an outrageous business subsidy to hire foreign workers instead of American workers. This is both fiscally and morally irresponsible and an insult to every patriotic American.
. . .
http://www.thetribunepapers.com/2017/08/10/fixing-the-great-immigration-swindle-the-battle-for-merit-based-immigration-reform/
Silicon Valley is Using H-1B Visas to Crowd Out American Minorities
By Tom Broadwater
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 23, 2017
Silicon Valley's highly publicized campaign to hire minorities and women has failed. Black and Hispanic employees combined represent just 5 percent of the tech workforce, and women are outnumbered three to one, according to a new study from the software firm Atlassian.
One reason for this glaring gap between perception and reality? The sector's prolific use of H-1B guest worker visas. Silicon Valley has grossly abused this visa program to take advantage of cheap foreign labor and paper over its diversity problem. Meanwhile, American workers -- especially those of color -- find themselves crowded out of the tech job market.
. . .
http://www.stltoday.com/opinion/columnists/silicon-valley-is-using-h--b-visas-to-crowd/article_2c3ac63c-360a-5c79-88b2-729d8673aa28.html
AMERICA UNRAVELS:
Millions of children go hungry as the super- rich gorge themselves and ILLEGALS SUCK IN BILLIONS IN WELFARE!
"The top 10 percent of Americans now own roughly three-quarters of all household wealth."
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2017/08/america-unravels-millions-of-children.html"While telling workers there is “not enough money” for wage increases, or to fund social programs, both parties hailed the recent construction of the U.S.S. Gerald Ford, a massive aircraft carrier that cost $13 billion to build, stuffing the pockets of numerous contractors and war profiteers."
MEXICO: AMERICA’S DRUG DEALER!
The same period has seen a massive growth of social inequality, with income and wealth concentrated at the very top of American society to an extent not seen since the 1920s.
“This study follows reports released over the past
several months documenting rising mortality rates
among US workers due to drug addiction and
suicide, high rates of infant mortality, an overall
leveling off of life expectancy, and a growing gap
between the life expectancy of the bottom rung of
income earners compared to those at the top.”
several months documenting rising mortality rates
among US workers due to drug addiction and
suicide, high rates of infant mortality, an overall
leveling off of life expectancy, and a growing gap
between the life expectancy of the bottom rung of
income earners compared to those at the top.”
LOS ANGELES: MEXICO'S ANCHOR BABY BREEDING FACTORY FOR 18 YEARS OF WELFARE. JUMP THE BORDERS, GET YOUR CHECK IN THE MAIL THE NEXT DAY!
"La Voz de Aztlan has produced a video in honor of the millions of babies that have been born as US citizens to Mexican undocumented parents. These babies are destined to transform America. The nativist CNN reporter Lou Dobbs estimates that there are over 200,000 (dated) "Anchor Babies" born every year whereas George Putnam, a radio reporter, says the figure is closer to 300,000 (dated) . La Voz de Aztlan believes that the number is aproximately 500,000 (dated) "Anchor Babies" born every year."
In the state of California, of which Los Angeles is a large part, most payouts to illegals go first to educate them, and then to jail them after they commit crimes, and then to pay for their medical care as they clog up emergency rooms and help themselves to Medi-Cal benefits from funds they never paid into. Welfare itself rates a distant fourth.
BREEDING AN OCCUPATION FOR WELFARE:
MEXICO WILL DOUBLE U.S. POPULATION
The LA RAZA ANCHOR BABY BREEDERS FOR WELFARE
MEXICO WILL DOUBLE AMERICA’S POPULATION
IMMIGRANT SHARE OF ADULTS QUADRUPLED IN 232 COUNTIES
"La Voz de Aztlan has produced a video in honor of the millions of babies that have been born as US citizens to Mexican undocumented parents. These babies are destined to transform America. The nativist CNN reporter Lou Dobbs estimates that there are over 200,000 (dated) "Anchor Babies" born every year whereas George Putnam, a radio reporter, says the figure is closer to 300,000 (dated) . La Voz de Aztlan believes that the number is aproximately 500,000 (dated) "Anchor Babies" born every year."
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