Maine staff pharmacists join Teamsters

Twenty staff pharmacists at Osco Drug pharmacies inside 16 Shaw’s Supermarket stores in Maine recently voted to join Teamsters Union Local 340.

“We will work tirelessly, providing them with the best representation to improve their working conditions and negotiate a strong contract that puts their rights and protections on paper,” Local 340 President Brett Miller stated in a release announcing the vote.

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The Teamsters will represent pharmacists at Shaw’s locations in Auburn, Augusta, Bangor, Biddeford, Brunswick, Dover-Foxcroft, Ellsworth, Freeport, Lewiston, Portland, Rockland, Saco, Sanford, Scarborough, Waterville, and Westbrook.

"Labor is under attack in our great state. Now more than ever, workers are uniting to have a voice at the table," said Local 340 organizer Ed Marzano. "Osco pharmacists delivered that message loud and clear by voting for Teamster representation."

In March, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that 16 pharmacy managers at the Shaw’s stores were supervisors and thus not eligible to join the union.

Shaw’s management successfully argued that some of its pharmacists are supervisors and not eligible to join a union because they hire, discipline, and fire employees.  “The unequivocal testimony is that all (pharmacy managers) have the same authority, whether they work in a store with no pharmacy technicians or with five pharmacy technicians,” Shaw’s attorneys wrote.

Additionally, 35 pharmacy technicians at the Shaw stores were also excluded as agreed by the employer and the union.