Massachusetts AFL-CIO Executive Council Calls on National Grid President Marcy Reed to Resign from Blue Cross Blue Shield MA Board
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Massachusetts AFL-CIO Executive Council Calls on National Grid President Marcy to Resign from Blue Cross Blue Shield MA Board
In a letter to BCBS, AFL-CIO highlights Reed’s “unethical” actions and conflict of interest after National Grid locks out 1,200 employees and terminates their BCBS health insurance
Boston, Mass. (September 13, 2018) – The Massachusetts AFL-CIO Executive Council is calling on Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to request the resignation of National Grid Massachusetts President Marcy Reed from the organization’s board of directors.
Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman sent a recent letter to BCBS of Massachusetts President and CEO Andrew Dreyfus. In the letter he called Reed’s actions “unethical, immoral and cruel” and said they represent a conflict of interest that makes it impossible for BCBS to carry out its mission of ensuring members have access to quality and affordable healthcare. The letter also calls on BCBS “to do the right thing: uphold the organization’s role as a healthcare leader in Massachusetts and remove Ms. Reed from the board.”
“National Grid, under the leadership of Marcy Reed, is using workers’ health insurance as a tool against both BCBS members and BCBS the organization,” said Tolman, whose organization has a seat on the BCBS of Massachusetts Board of Directors. “An executive who is willing to use the health of her employees as leverage in a contract dispute is not fit to serve on the board of an organization that works tirelessly to expand access to healthcare. We have very serious concerns about her judgement and believe BCBS should demand her resignation.”
This past June National Grid decided to lock out 1,200 of its most experienced Massachusetts employees and terminate their health insurance rather than allow them to continue to work during negotiations. Because of this, about 3,000 covered bodies – including children and adults – have been without BCBS insurance for nearly three months.
“It’s completely inappropriate for an organization like Blue Cross Blue Shield, whose mission is to insure families, to have a board member who has ripped away healthcare from her employees,” said John Buonopane, president of USW Local 12012. “We have members who are battling cancer and whose children are battling cancer and other serious medical conditions. They’ve been forced to scramble to pay for costly treatments and medications – in some cases resorting to online fundraising – all because National Grid chose to lock out employees rather than allow them to continue to work. It’s disgraceful and Marcy Reed should resign.”
Read the full text of the letter here. USW Locals 12003 and Local 12012 represent about 1,250 gas workers in more than 85 Massachusetts cities and towns.
For more information on the lockout, please visit www.lockoutatnationalgrid.com
Click here to see the letter sent to Mr. Dreyfus