Michele Creager started working as a pharmacy clerk 37 years ago and used to be able to make ends meet. The 60-year-old Huntington Beach native and her co-workers at Sav-On could count on an hourly raise of $2 each year, affordable healthcare plans and paid vacation time, she said. She also recalled stores being well staffed late into the evening and generally feeling safe when working after dark.
But things changed when CVS Health took over in 2006. Her annual pay increases shrank to as little as a dime or two per hour while the cost of her health insurance plans grew. The company also cut workers’ hours, she said, leaving fewer employees to look out for the store and each other.
“There used to always be eight or 10 people scheduled at night,” said Creager, now a Costa Mesa resident. “Now it’s myself and one other person, and when that person goes to lunch I’m left alone. I’ve been kicked, punched, slapped [and] had a knife pulled on me. I don’t feel safe.”…