4 B.C. LUMBER WORKER

De gs Te ee,

‘THE wonder of Christmas is that the spirit in

which old and young delight in the exchange
of age-old greetings, and the traditional demon-
strations of goodwill never grows dim with the
passing of the years.

Even in an age, which is reputed to be cynical :

and blasé, Christmas works its delights wherever
family ties are held dear, or wherever men and
women think in terms of kindly social relations.

One fact has become obvious. The spirit of
Christmas wells up first in the hearts of those who
have practiced a genuine response to the ideals of
brotherhood. It is their enthusiasm that later in-
fects the minds of the Scrooges of the world.

While the members of the trade union move-
ment have no monopoly on the practice of the
principles of brotherhood, nevertheless, they are
among those who have most openly and unasham-
edly fraternized for their common weal.

It is for this reason, that in the homes of the
workers-may be found, perhaps, in larger measure
than in other quarters, the warm-hearted good
cheer, and radiant, unselfish happiness, called the
Christmas spirit.

Those who act on as well as profess their
ideals of brotherhood, are those who understand
its true meaning. Those who merely give it lip ser-
vice never manage to get the ideal out of quotation
marks into their lives.

‘When IWA members exchange Christmas
greetings, they can put the full meaning into the
conyentional phrases. They belong to a brother-
hood, that in every sense of the word has func-
tioned in action. The IWA is a brotherhood ex-
pressed in service, when one takes the pains to
gain an insight into the motivation of the innum-
otal services rendered the members by each
other.

Christmas time is a good time to remind our-
selves of the reality of this factor, so often re-
garded as being so sentimental that it is kept in
the background. Nevertheless, it is the real driv-
ing force of the trade union movement. Trade
unions would not be trade unions, serving objec-
tives such as are served today, had the workers
not abandoned the tooth and claw social relations
of theix primeval ancestors.

In the IWA, we say Merry Christmas, with
the very great satisfaction that Christmas has
actually been made brighter by the Union’s con-
tribution to its observance.

Happiness is not something that can be pro-
vided in material form. Notwithstanding this
fact, happiness can more readily flourish, where
the material basis of living has been raised above
bare subsistence.

This is the Union’s Christmas gift to each one
of its members. :

It is the gift, which collective action has pro-
vided; the gift which combines improved economic
circumstances, with advancing security, and
greater self-respect.

This gift may not be seen hanging from IWA
Christmas trees, but it is evident in various forms
in every IWA home.

Report of two representatives of the IWA on the Board
of Directors of the Medical Services Association, submitted
recently to the Union, urges that trade union members
pay greater attention to the necessity of full health pro-

Jointly responsible for a highly
informative report are Jimmy
Abrams, Local 1-357, IWA, and
John Cummins, Local 1-217, IWA.
They state as follows:

“As a result of the November
29 Annual General Meeting of
the Medical Services Association,
Brothers Jimmy Abrams of Lo-
cal 1-357, IWA, and myself were
elected to the Board of Directors
of M.S.A. This is actually the
first time that the CCL has plac-
ed any representatives on the
Board of Directors.

MSA is an important part of
our way of life and more atten-
tion must be paid to all aspects
of pre-paid health insurance.
While it can be said that our
present MSA is not everything
that is desired, it is the Associa-
tion which covers the majority of
our members and therefore we
must take an active part in the
affairs of the Association in or-
der that the maximum benefits
can be obtained.

Structure

To those of you who are not
familiar with the structure of
the Medical Services Association,
I would like to deal for a minute
with an outline of the officers and
Board of Directors. To begin
with, there are four employee
members on the Board of Direc-
tors—two employer and two doc-
tor.

Each year, an election is held
and two employees, one employer
and one medical representative
are elected for a two-year term.
The following year when the An-
nual Meeting is held, the other
sections of the Board of Directors
are elected for a two-year period.
This procedure always provides
experienced members on the
Board of Dirctors to administer
the affairs of the Association.

On the Board of Directors this
year representing employees are:
Jimmy Abrams, IWA, from the
Western Shook Mills; J. C.
Broatch from Canadian Fishing
Company Limited; S. A. Jen-
nings, Professor, University of
British Columbia; and John Cum-
mins, IWA member from the
Canadian White Pine.

Medical representatives are Dr.
J. F. Tysoe from the B.C. Divi-
sion of the Canadian Medical As-
sociation; Dr. J. A. Ganshorn,
also from the B.C. Division of
the Canadian Medical Associa-
tion.

Employer representatives are
‘G. W. Wilson from Consolidated
Mining & Smelting Company of
Canada and J. H. Armitage from

the Valley Lumber Yards Ltd.

tection for workers and their families.

The Board of Directors appoint
the officers who run the actual
administration of the Association.

President, G. W. Wilson;
Director of Medical Services,
Dr. G. L. Watson, with two
full-time and several part-time
assistants; Vice-president, S.
A. Jennings; Director and Sec-
retary-treasurer, A. L. McLel-
lan; Assistant Director, H.
Wyndham-Jones; Assistant
Treasurer, Miss M. S. Gluck.

There are a number of doctors
appointed as Assistant Directors
of Medical Service, both in and
out of the Vancouver Area. There
is also a group of doctors on the
Reference Committee, as well as
some that are members of the
Mediation Committee for MSA.
There is an Advisory Council and
two representatives to the Trans-
Canada Medical Plan.

Increased Membership

Wé are pleased to report that
the Medical Services Association
this year has enjoyed another

M.S.A. REPORT REVEALS
NEEDED HEALTH CARE

successful year of operation. As
you know, this is the 15th year
since MSA was first organized in
the Province of British Columbia,
In the year 1955, we have had
595 groups added and coverage
extended to 34,752. Of our pres-
ent membership, there has been
a slight increase over last year
in members seeking medical at-
tention.

This year, MSA has made some
very important changes. The first
change is that children are now
covered from birth rather than
the previous system of not giv-
ing coverage until they are three
months old.

Some time ago, a~stabilizing
account was set up with six
months as an objective. This
meant a fixed amount of money
would be set aside to cover each
person for an average amount of
visits for a period of six months.
At the moment, 3% of the 6
months objective has been reach-
ed which now represents $8.15
per person covered or the equiva-
lent of between two or three ealls
per six-month period.

Joint Agreement Between

MSI and MSA
Last year, at the Annual Meet-

See “M,S.A, REPORT” Page 10

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