Washington, D.C. — The American Economic Liberties Project today released the following statement following news that pharmacists at chain drug stores are walking off the job nationwide and seeking to organize in opposition to the dangerous business practices of their employers:

“We applaud the pharmacists who are walking out in protest of sweatshop working conditions and dangerous business practices,” said Matt Stoller, Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Large chain pharmacies are designed to work pharmacists and technicians to the bone while nickel-and-diming consumers, cheating independent competitors, and harming the health and safety of patients. The only winners from that toxic business model are corporate executives. To protect pharmacists and patients alike, we need to stand with the pharmacists organizing for better working conditions at large chains like CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart. We need to break up health conglomerates like CVS, and reform pharmacy benefit management firms so they are dedicating to lowering costs instead of cheating independent pharmacies and patients.”

For more on what’s going on in chain pharmacies, read Matt Stoller’s recent newsletter here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.