Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. will close most of its stores and pharmacies on Thanksgiving Day, giving thousands of workers an unexpected day off amid walkouts and layoffs.
It will be the first time the chain of nearly 9,000 drugstores has given its workforce time for the holiday, and shows front-line workers that “we value them,” Tracey Brown, president of Walgreens Retail, said Thursday in a statement. Workers will receive pay for the time off, the company said. Nearly all 700 Walgreens 24-hour locations, a small number of distribution centers and other sites will remain open for the holiday.
Pharmacists still need more staffing and support, said Shane Jerominski, a former Walgreens pharmacist who helped organize the walkouts there and at CVS, especially on the upcoming Black Friday and Thanksgiving weekend days. All the day off succeeds in doing “is leaving that work for the next day.”
Pharmacists from both Walgreens and rival CVS Health Corp. have said working conditions have reached a tipping point, with insufficient staff and an impossible backlog of prescriptions. Under new CEO Tim Wentworth, Walgreens initiated a $1 billion cost-cutting plan, and is trimming bonuses for corporate employees and support center workers.
