Corporate body

Consolidated Employees Benevolent Society (Trail, B.C.)

[1921 or 1927]-[1975 or 1978]

The Consolidated Employees Benevolent Society was established in 1921 or 1927 to augment health insurance provided by the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada (CM&S, later known as Cominco) in Trail, B.C. The Society administered a co-operative plan, i.e., a plan run by the employees themselves rather than their employers or health service providers. At the time of the Society’s founding, CM&S provided health insurance to cover both occupational and non-occupational sickness. The Society provided sick benefit payments to employees unable to work, whether temporarily or permanently, due to non-occupational sickness or accident—excluding cases in which that sickness or accident was caused by or incidental to a sexually transmitted infection or the consumption of alcohol.

Although the Society’s coverage of different conditions varied over the decades, workers applied and received benefits for the following types of claims: infectious diseases (e.g., cold, influenza, hepatitis, mumps, pneumonia, scarlet fever), illnesses and conditions (e.g., appendicitis, back pain, bronchitis, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal conditions, hernias, jaundice, vertigo), injuries (e.g., amputations, broken bones, strains, wounds), medical procedures and post-op recovery time (e.g., amputations, appendectomy, dental procedures, hernia repair, spinal surgery), chronic physical conditions (e.g., arthritis, asthma, diabetes, eczema, epilepsy, lead poisoning), and mental conditions and illnesses (e.g., alcoholism, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia), among others. To receive benefits from the Society, the claimant had to follow appropriate Society by-laws, including: requesting membership in the Society and paying monthly dues; properly engaging in communications with both Society Directors and doctors via the appropriate forms and according to a prescribed timeline; being fully unable to work for a minimum period of time due to a covered non-occupational sickness or accident; and not being entitled to any time loss compensation from other people, corporations, or government agencies.

The Society was formed and initially run by the Consolidated Workmen’s Co-operative Committee, which acted as a bargaining agent for CM&S smelter workers between 1920 and 1944. The Committee was terminated as workers’ official bargaining representative in 1944, replaced by Mine Mill Local 480. Since the Committee had been run as part of CM&S, administration of the Society likely fell to another department within CM&S. However, based on its name change in 1972 to USWA (Cominco Council) Disability Income Society, administration of the Society at some point was likely transferred to Mine Mill Local 480, also known as United Steelworkers Local 480. Due to the growing number of vehicular accidents in which workers were not covered by insurance, Society funds were increasingly depleted. Perhaps due to the state of its funds by 1974, the Society disbanded in 1975 and officially dissolved in 1978.