IUOE News Spring 2014

Benefits Plan
Union Orientation at the Local 115 Training Facility, with Joshua Watts, Jack Romanchuk, Kody Kokoszka, Nick Tremblay, Sean Nome,
Frank Carr (Member Representative), Kenneth Goy, Francis Jolin, Mitchell Genovese, Franco Baratto, Amber Weismuller, Glen Wesley,
Jonathan Fraser, Robyn Bishop (Instructor), Jacob Osbourne, Steven Rai, Jim Joyal, Rebecca Jackson, Tanner Guraliuk, Kathryn Defouw,
Robert Pavan, and Rick Anderson (Instructor).
The OEBPP is your safe option
No one can guarantee the future with any degree of certainty.
Plan rules may change and many factors can influence the
financial position of Operating Engineers’ Pension Plan in the
future, but most well-informed experts in Canada today
would argue that sustained membership in a defined benefit
pension plan offers Canadians the best chance of retiring with
enough to comfortably live on.
Another significant benefit of union membership is the
opportunity to enroll in the Operating Engineers’ Benefits
Plan.
During our working lives, membership in the Benefits Plan
provides our eligible members with Medical Service Plan
coverage as well as a competitive package of other benefits
including extended health, dental, group life, weekly disability
and long term disability benefits.
During down time or layoffs, our members with built up
hour banks enjoy continued coverage, and once the hour bank
is depleted eligible members can elect to self-pay at attractive
rates to extend their coverage.
Under the current Benefits Plan rules, our qualifying
retired members can continue their Benefits Plan coverage
under a number of benefit packages, again at attractive rates.
With ever increasing drug costs and cuts to government
programs, the opportunity to belong to a plan like the Operating
Engineers’ Benefits Plan is a growing source of envy for
those who do not have similar coverage available to them.
Again, while plan rules are always subject to change in the
future, membership in our union comes with some long term
attractive and valuable benefits under the Operating Engineers’
Benefits and Pension Plans.
Once eligible, all members would be well advised to enroll
in the pension plan and benefits plan at their first opportunity.
Without completed enrollment forms a member does not
accrue any benefit, even if your union membership is in good
standing and your employer is making contributions under
the collective agreement. Please contact the Pension and
Benefits office if you require enrollment forms.
Once enrolled, members should take care to avoid jeopardizing
those benefits by a suspension from union membership.
For all these reasons, we urge you to respond promptly to any
notice of arrears you may receive from either the Local or the
Pension and Benefits department.
News March 2014 25