how can the pharmacy technicians make their own union

Pharmacy technicians all over are being treated like slaves in retail pharmacies, new pharmacy technicians are not getting jobs because the pharmacies won't hire and let the remaining techs do the work. The working techs are grossly underpaid, where are the pharmacy technicians heading. I just read a few comments on making a union of pharmacy technicians to safe guard the interests of the technicians. How can the pharmacy technicians make their own union ?

I agree pharmacy technician’s are underpaid, and yes working as a pharmacy technician in a retail setting is damn near slavery. Pharmacy technician’s are under paid and over stressed these conditions won’t get any better not in the retail environment. The only solution is to go back to school and train for a higher paying position. Such as medical technologist or nursing which are growing healthcare careers that pay livable wages with advancement opportunities.

Nevertheless, the requirements along with formal training to become a pharmacy technician are minimal in most states. There is no required formal education in most states and that’s why pharmacy technician’s salaries will always remain low. Furthermore, passing the national PTCE exam is all that’s required in order to become nationally certified in most states.

Therefore anyone with enough free time, discipline and the right materials can study for this test and pass it. As far as a pharmacy technician union is concerned that is a political endeavor and most likely you will have to go through the political process, which is time consuming in order to achieve that goal. Also, in that case the standard of education for pharmacy technicians will have to require a thorough formal education along with national certification.

By this I mean a 2 -4 year college level science degree which will cut down the number of applicants for open pharmacy technician positions. “So where are the smart pharmacy technicians heading if their in retail?” they are heading out the door to a higher education either in nursing, medical technologist or some other healthcare option. In conclusion, feel free to google “How to start a union?”, and you can see for yourself how political and time consuming the process is for starting a union.

-Good Luck

Well Mr. Brown I agree with your comments. I am inquisitive about this union issue.Will a union make things better for the Pharmacy Technicians ? just like the Teachers and police officers unions through out the United States. Secondly I bear resemblance with you that the pharmacy technician stuff is a kind of DEAD END. If any one wants a reasonable and respectable salary and position, pharmacy technician's career is not the stuff. You have to have another good health care education and get back to school. For some of us this might be real hard to do. Many of us studied in such school where they have been burdened under big debts just to finish the pharmacy technician program.Going back to school may not be possible for many of the technician's who have been working in the field for a number of years and would like to continue working as pharmacy technicians.
The formal training issue has been well dealt. Vast majority of the pharmacy technicians comprise of those whose basic education is just GED or high school diploma and have passed the PTCE (thats it). I am not trying to ridicule my colleagues on the issue of basic training but we all know that this is a big issue. Because of the low education level of the pharmacy technicians we are subjected to slavery by the pharmacists in most of the retail pharmacies and by the same token anyone who is bit higher qualified will not be hired by the pharmacists because their own position gets jeopardized by a well an educated pharmacy technician.
I reiterate my position again that despite all these short comings which we pharmacy technicians have we still enjoy the right to a good salary and a good position. How many of us agree that the formal education level should be raised to an associate degree if not a bachelor's degree I do not know right now but if such a move earns a pharmacy technician a starting salary of $15 is not bad. But to achieve all this we need to have a platform where we can project are demands.

Actually, in california working in a hospital pharmacy technician gets pay at least 17 to start. Now we are max at $27.

I'm interested in being a pharm tech. I've been at university for about 5 years, working my way through a 4 year degree and realized gradually along the way that while I love to read about the things I study, I loathe academic work.

I'm going to talk to the local tech college about their program, and out of curiosity I googled pharm tech unions and came across this conversation.

Brown_dude, while pharm techs do not have as much formal education as others, that should not bear on what they are paid necessarily. They do important, useful work, and often can work for multimillion dollar corporations.

The lack of formal education is more an excuse for these corporations to suppress workers' wages, the same argument McDonald's or Wal-Mart--two more economic powerhouse--use. It's not fair, and it's not a valid argument. As far as the market is concerned, the pharm tech's labor is worth far more than they are remunerated for.

All workers participate in the economy, and all workers should earn enough to support a decent standard of living, beyond pay check to pay check, and we are all entitled to benefit from the collective benefits of our economy: healthcare, paid vacation time, sick leave, and holidays. That is the measure of the standard of living, which in the US is abysmal compared to how insanely productive we all are.

I am interested in pharmacy Technician as well while waiting to get into the nursing program.Does anyone know any school that offers it???Thanks!!!!

You do not have to go to school to become a pharmacy technician. You can take the exam on your own. For more info, visit cphtonline.com.

I have been a pharmacy technician at CVS/Pharmacy for two years now and I currently get paid $8.51 at this rate I could go back to McDonalds where I worked in high school and make 24 cents more an hour coming back in as a crew trainer.

I have nothing against burger flippers, but seriously shouldn't I be getting paid more than some of the meth cookers and marihuana dealers that I worked with in McDonalds.

I do know that there is some form of Pharmacy tech union because some CVS stores have union techs because my boss was in a union store before moving to mine. I am not sure how to get in it. I think that it may be only available in certain areas or something

RxPhil in Bowling Green, Kentucky said: I have been a pharmacy technician at CVS/Pharmacy for two years now and I currently get paid $8.51 at this rate I could go back to McDonalds where I worked in high school and make 24 cents more an hour coming back in as a crew trainer.

I have nothing against burger flippers, but seriously shouldn't I be getting paid more than some of the meth cookers and marihuana dealers that I worked with in McDonalds.

I do know that there is some form of Pharmacy tech union because some CVS stores have union techs because my boss was in a union store before moving to mine. I am not sure how to get in it. I think that it may be only available in certain areas or something

I happen to agree I have been with CVS for a month now and I am made to feel like a pee-on even though I attended a school and was certifed prior to working with CVS I find I am just a pharm clerk putting away salt and make-up. I did go in an ask for a starting pay of ten dollars hr and got it but I have been told that long time tech that have been with the comp. dont even make that ---- union is the way to go.

I am a Pharmacy Tech,could you advise me which would be the best Trade Union to join,regards Michelle

I would check with SEIU, they are big union organizers and you may find they are already working on unionizing people. It isn't as difficult as one might think.