how to cancel ONA membership

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jan 15, 2012

ONA's protection goes a lot farther than just license protection. That very competitive hourly wage you're paid, the automatic increments you receive as you make your way up the wage ladder, the contract negotiations carried out on your behalf every two or three years that usually result in a small raise or improvements in your benefits, the $1050 a year you're paid for your baccalaureate degree, your 37.5 hour work week, the paid breaks you're entitled to each shift, the overtime pay you get when you work past the end of your shift or come in on a day off, the shift differentials you get for evenings/nights/weekends, the worksite health and safety provisions you are guaranteed, the long-term disability plan that gurantees you an income should you be injured or ill for a prolonged period, protection from frivolous or unwarranted discipline and/or termination of employment, the statutory holidays you have time-and-a-half for, the paid vacation and sick time you accrue each payday, the pension plan you have the opportunity to enrol in, the automatic accidental death and disability insurance you get, the voluntary extended health and dental benefits you may choose to obtain... these are all thanks to your union.

The dental plan you're referring to is a VOLUNTARY plan, so that means you don't HAVE to carry it. You can withdraw from it whenever you want. Your $70.09 a month premium includes the extended health coverage (prescription drugs, physiotherapy, chiropractic, vision care, massage therapy, hearing aids and a few other items) and dental plan offered by your employer AND premiums are subsidized 75% by that employer. So you aren't paying $841 a year for $800 of dental coverage at all. That $800 is an amount equivalent to 70% of the total billed amount. Dental coverage typically includes a deductible and a co-pay. Cleaning and fluoride treatments run about $120 per person per visit. Basic fillings are around $250. Radiographs are usually about $45 per film, and panoramic radiographs are about $200. If you'd rather pay the whole cost of your dental care, by all means drop your coverage. You'll run through $800 fairly quickly unless your teeth are in perfect condition.

Now, about opting out of your union. That isn't so easy. When you're employed by a unionized facility you are covered by the terms of the collective agreement in place and you will have union dues deducted from your pay cheque whether you think the union is good for anything or not. Article 5.01 of the collective agreement in Ontario states: The Hospital will deduct from each nurse covered by this Agreement an amount equal to the regular monthly Union dues designated by the Union. This is a Canadian labour law. Your union dues are deductible from your income tax as professional expenses.

Many of your posts are highly critical of Canada and Canadian nursing. It makes me wonder why you opted to come to Canada in the first place. If you're so unhappy here perhaps you could return to Israel.

magnoliya · Jan 15, 2012

I do not remember saying anything bad about Canada. Can you give me an example? I have a few problems and I asked for advise.

Nevertheless, Why I am so critical?!(but I am not) Maybe Because I want to make Canada a better place. As a nurse(I think you are a nurse) did not you hear about constructive criticism?! or perhaps you want to hear good things only and you are not ready to hear anything else? but on forum like this people usually launder different problems. That is why people come here.

Please do not send me back to Israel, Please let me stay!

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jan 16, 2012

I think you're deliberately putting words in my mouth. I merely suggested that if you're finding Canada to be so much less than you expected or wanted that you might be happier if you went back home. I've read all of your posts (it's my job) and you have almost nothing positive to say about anything you've experienced in your odyssey to employment in Canada. You've made several highly critical comments about the College of Nurses of Ontario, you have nothing good to say about the Ontario Nurses' Association, you had made uncomplimentary remarks about Canadian employers and the Canadian post-secondary education system and you've suggested - before you edited this post - that you're a better nurse than any Canadian educated nurse because we've made it so hard for you to become one of us. You live in a metropolitan area the population of which is roughly 3/4 of that of your entire home country, in a province that has a population of more than 13 million, where nothing can be accomplished instantaneously. It's possible to seek advice without denigrating the country you have adopted and alienating people. It seems you're never satisfied with the responses your requests receive, however. As someone who has moved and started over several times, I understand the frustrations, but I also know that I made choices that may not have turned out exactly as I'd hoped, but I made the choice and would live with the outcome.

magnoliya · Jan 16, 2012

How do you like my new proverb, "alienating people it is the price for speaking out the truth"

I did not mean to make this thread personal. This thread is not about me but about certain problems that I am pointing out. I am not here to talk about good or bad , I am not judging. I am just looking for solutions and I want to call things by their names. As nurses we need to be able to disagree without being hurt (professional quality). If you do not agree with me please express your opinion and do not send me back to Israel.

I have a lot of good things to say about CNO(for example) and if you read my posts and pay attention you will notice that I mentioned that a lot of nurses (including myself) passed this process very quickly.(it is a positive thing)

Other people do not read all my posts and You do not convey my previous messages right. I did not speak about Canadian universities or Canadian employers but about employment and education in general. and If I used word "bureaucracy" so what? do not you agree to some extent? be honest? Please re-read my posts.

Reading comprehension! and please do not take it close to your heart.

I do not want to touch other issues you have noticed since I do not want to make things personal.

I probably could write about how good Canada is but people here are looking for solutions. My personality or the greatness of Canada are the least interesting things, especially for the LPN(RPN) who cannot find job for long time.

If you want to discuss my personality you are welcome to compose a personal message.

magnoliya · Jan 16, 2012

The dental plan you're referring to is a VOLUNTARY plan, so that means you don't HAVE to carry it. You can withdraw from it whenever you want. Your $70.09 a month premium includes the extended health coverage (prescription drugs, physiotherapy, chiropractic, vision care, massage therapy, hearing aids and a few other items)

Sorry did not get you -- dental plan includes chiropractic, vision care, massage therapy, hearing aids? Dental means teeth. Could you please clarify

magnoliya · Jan 16, 2012

That $800 is an amount equivalent to 70% of the total billed amount

Could you please clarify?

if 70% equivalent to 800$ thus 100%(total billed amount) equivalent to 1142$

How do you know total billed amount in advance? You do not know total billed amount in advance and thus you cannot calculate 70% of the total billed amount.

I was referring to following link

http://www.ona.org/documents/File/pdf/dental-brochure.pdf

where it says 800$ maximum and if you do not qualify for 60 days open EN. dental coverage is limited to 200$

loriangel14, RN · Jan 16, 2012

Sorry did not get you -- dental plan includes chiropractic, vision care, massage therapy, hearing aids? Dental means teeth. Could you please clarify

Extended health care coverage includes these things.

magnoliya · Jan 16, 2012

but Extended health care coverage comes with different monthly premium.

please see here http://www.ona.org/documents/File/pdf/extended-health-hospital.pdf

why would she give me the premium of dental plan when referring to Extended health care coverage?

My initial question was about dental plan not about Extended health care coverage.

These are two different plans and two different premiums. It is worth mentioning that dental plan is not offered by my employer(as she said) it is offered by ONA.

Please help! a lot of details she provided do not make any sense to me. Maybe she just mixed 2 plans up?

Could somebody please explain to me why would I pay 67.07$ monthly to get 800$ yearly of dental coverage

http://www.ona.org/documents/File/pdf/dental-brochure.pdf

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jan 17, 2012

What exactly does it say on the pay advice you get from your employer about deductions for EHC and dental benefits? (The number you quote keeps changing.) Most payroll systems will report these premiums with a notation something like "EHC Family" and "Dental Family" although some will annotate them as a lump sum. (On MY pay advice the EHC Family premium is $46.74 and the Dental Family is $26.87 for a total premium of $73.61 per month. My contract contains identical provisions for these benefits as yours so those numbers are my 25% of the total premium.) Coverage is NOT provided by ONA. They simply are the policy holders on behalf of their members. The employer is required by the contract with ONA to pay 75% of the costs of coverage for each and every member. The amount YOU pay every month is only 25 % of the total premium. So 25% of $67.07 is $16.77 (not including GST, which will be added) per month FROM YOU and the rest comes from your employer. The $800 of coverage that $16.77 per month THAT YOU PAY is 70% of the total billing that the plan will pay for in your first year of employment. (After the first year i goes up to $1000 and after 3 years to $1200.) So if you go to the dentist and have a $200 bill at the end, the plan will pay $140, up to a maximum of $800 for the first year. PER PERSON covered. In the course of your first year of employment you could have up to $1142 worth of dental care provided to you for which you pay $342, plus your $16.77 per month premiums. As for the open enrolment period bit, if a newly employed person opts to enrol in the benefits plan ON BEING HIRED, the coverage begins at the end of whatever waiting period the plan requires - usually none for full time employees and 90 days for part-timers. If a person chooses not to enrol when they're first hired, because they don't think they need coverage, or they have coverage through their spouse's employer and subsequently change their mind, they have to wait for an open enrolment period that usually is only once ever few years. As I said before, these plans are VOLUNTARY and no one is forced to enrol if they don't want it. And you can opt out whenever you choose. All of this could easily be explained to you in person by someone at your ONA local office. Maybe you need to sit down with someone there and have it all laid out for you in language you can understand.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jan 19, 2012

i do not see jan pointing out that english is not your first language by her comment maybe you need to sit down with someone there and have it all laid out for you in language you can understand. i have used exactly the same comment to other people where english is first language and used it in the way of putting it into something you understand like layman terms. in the same way you would explain to a patient or family member by withholding the jargon and use plain language that is easy to follow

magnoliya · Jan 19, 2012

If it was just this.

I apologize if I have misunderstood her