Ontario Health atHome: Vote ONA

• The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) only represents health-care workers. Because health care is our sole focus, we understand your work, your challenges, and your priorities.  
• All ONA resources are dedicated to improving your wages, your working conditions, and patient, resident and client care.  
• Regardless of your classification, your dues are spent on issues that matter to you; not subsidizing the needs of workers outside the health-care sector. 
• With 11 of 14 Ontario Health atHome branches and 4,200 Ontario Health atHome (OHaH) members, ONA has the strongest bargaining power to win good contracts.

ONA gets results. We have a long history of winning improvements through collective bargaining and actions, including: 

• New OHaH positions created using ONA’s professional responsibility clause. 
• Wage increases after years of government wage restraint. 
• Higher increases in northern Ontario to help members catch up with the rest of the province. 
• The first union to refer return-to-office grievances to arbitration and secure a mediation date on April 27, 2026. 
• Pioneered the Professional Responsibility Clause to address issues of unsafe patient care, workload and practice concerns. This has helped members secure more staff, safer workplaces, improved quality of care, necessary equipment and supplies, better documentation and input in management decisions to improve workload and patient care. 
• Strong advocacy in every part of health care, from long-term care, public health, the community, industry and clinics. Look no further than our powerful campaigns to support our members from Victorian Order of Nurses, public health and primary care. 

Unlike in other unions with a non-health care focus, your voice won’t get lost in ONA. Instead, you set the direction of our campaigns and lobbying efforts to improve wages, working conditions, and health care because it is our specialty.

ONA is the largest health-care union in Ontario, with 68,000+ members and 18,000 nursing students. That strength means your voice is heard at the workplace, in the media, and at Queen’s Park. As an ONA member, you also get access to a wide range of supports and services, all part of your membership without added fees like other unions: 

• Local and province campaigns and actions to fight for the issues that matter to you. 
• Professional practice and workplace support. 
• Health and safety, WSIB and human rights and equity specialists. 
• Legal assistance and malpractice insurance  
• With LEAP coverage, you don’t need RNAO PLP. With LEAP, you have the same or better coverage. The RNAO PLP requires payment upfront and reimbursement for coverage beyond civil litigation. 
• Other unions charge extra for legal assistance. 
• Disability and critical illness coverage. This coverage is in addition to employer-sponsored benefits. 
• Education, training, and member events and much more. 

ONA sets the standard across health-care sectors for wages, working conditions and benefits. We fight for harmonization with the highest ONA wages for every single ONA member in every health sector. 

ONA always negotiates to maintain and gain, not lose.  

• Everything that you currently have, ONA works to get into a collective agreement and then make improvements.
• ONA examines all collective agreements and wages and working conditions for all professionals, clerical, technical staff and preserves any superior conditions/wage grids and bargains forward.  

At ONA, the Board of Directors does not determine the bargaining priorities – You do! ONA’s process is unique and ensures member involvement in every step of the way. 

• You elect your bargaining team, that includes health-care professionals from across the province to ensure fair representation. You can run and be elected to join the team. 
• We begin with a bargaining survey where you and your coworkers can identify all the big (and small) issues that matter to you. This ensures that your voice is heard, regardless of your classification or where you work. 
• Demand-setting meetings are held, and are open to all members so you can review the top demands from the survey, share feedback and make sure you are heard. 
• Next, your bargaining team takes those demands and drafts proposals for you to review at a Proposal Setting Meeting.  
• You then review and vote on the proposals that your bargaining team will present to the employer.  
• During bargaining, you and your coworkers can join the bargaining action team to organize a powerful campaign and take collective action to show the employer that you are united to fight for.
• When the bargaining team is ready to come back with a collective agreement, you and your coworkers vote on whether to ratify it or send it back.

Your participation is essential in the bargaining process because ONA is a member-led, grassroots organization. 

No, ONA is not just a union for nurses and doesn’t only focus on hospitals.

ONA is a union that is sector specific, with a single focus on health care. Specializing gives ONA a huge edge in collective bargaining because we know our members’ lived experiences best. We represent health-care professionals of all classifications, in various sectors including long-term care, public health, the community, industry and clinics and hospitals. 

ONA is the first union to refer the return-to-work grievances to arbitration and secure a mediation date before Arbitrator John Martelli on April 27, 2026. ONA will argue that the inconsistencies in the RTO policy prove it’s unreasonable. 

ONA has already achieved the following on the RTO policy grievances: 

• Won accommodation agreements for members who are unable to comply with the RTO policy for Human Rights Code related reasons; 
• Negotiated agreements for some workers to return to alternate offices closer to home;  
• Raised Occupational Health and Safety issues in offices where substandard working conditions exist such as insufficient space and overcrowding.

 ONA is taking concrete legal action to fight for your rights and work-life balance.

ONA dues are flat and predictable. Working overtime? Picking up extra shifts? Earning premiums? Your ONA dues will not change. With percentage-based dues, every extra dollar you earn means more taken off your pay. Flat dues mean no surprises on your pay cheque.

Your union dues also are spent on issues that matter to you and are not used to subsidize the needs of workers outside the health-care sector.

Following the vote and certification of ONA as the bargaining unit, a transitional collective agreement must be negotiated and ratified first.

ONA has reviewed and analyzed all collective agreement language and entitlements from all 14 predecessor branches. We will require disclosure of updated documentation and information from the employer to prepare for bargaining.

Negotiations for a first OHaH Collective Agreement will proceed as per ONA’s transparent negotiations process, including a member survey, engagement in demand setting, and membership vote on a proposal package. This can include harmonized compensation, working provisions and other demands you identify along the way.