News From OSA - March, 2019

NEGOTIATIONS. This will be a short discussion because, while collective bargaining did resume this month (March 8th) and the City did respond to some of our demands, others still await a response. At the next session, which we hope will come more quickly, we anticipate receiving the rest of their responses to our demands. It will also be our turn to respond to those issues for which we already have a response from them.

Our new Labor Relations Commissioner has indicated a desire to move along negotiations more quickly and we are in full agreement, but an agreed settlement before the summer may be elusive.

There are a couple of points to which we can and will agree, even before the full contract settlement. We will be pleased to accept the City’s offered help of unlimited sick leave for those affected by 9/11 who performed rescue, recovery or cleanup work. We also will accept the offered plan for partially paid family leave. A copy of the Personnel Services Bulletins that will apply to these benefits can be found at the links below.

Personnel Services Bulletin 440-16 Paid Family Leave For Represented Employees

Personnel Services Bulletin 440-17 Unlimited Sick Leave For Employees With 9/11 Related Illnesses

More details on both of these programs will follow as fast as the City provides them.

WELCOME HEALTH SERVICES MANAGERS. OSA has always been an organizing union. Most of our members were once upon a time considered managerial and/or confidential by the City and therefore ineligible for collective bargaining representation. Our entire history has been one of proving the City wrong on this count and extending union protection to thousands of previously unrepresented City workers. At the end of March, OSA will welcome approximately 200 new members (mainly from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) working in the Health Services Manager title. We welcome our new brothers and sisters and encourage them to become active in their new union.

AFFILIATION. You can download a flier at the link below giving the details of our attempts to affiliate with a larger union over the years. Since we are again engaged in affiliation discussions, providing a review of our decades-long history of prior attempts seemed a good idea.

To Affiliate Or Not To Affiliate, That Is The Question

EXAM PREPARATION. This year, there will be exams for Associate Staff Analyst (ASA) and Administrative Staff Analyst (Admin SA) sometime near the end of September. Applications for these exams will be open for filing from 6/5/19 - 6/25/19. OSA will be providing help in completing the applications to interested candidates. The Notice of Exam (NOE) and the application forms will be available on the DCAS website during the filing period.

There will be promotional and open competitive versions of both the ASA and Admin SA exams. If you are a permanent Staff Analyst(SA), you are eligible for the promotional ASA exam, and if you are a permanent ASA, you are eligible for the promotional Admin SA exam.

Everyone who meets the eligibility requirements on the NOE can take either or both open competitive exams. Actually, if you file for both the promotional exam and open competitive exam for the same title, you only take one actual exam and, if you pass, you will be on both the promotional and open competitive lists. It is a good idea to take the open competitive exam for either title, in case your agency does not want to promote you. This way, you would have the opportunity to leave for a better agency.

OSA will be offering help in completing the applications during the filing period. Please call us at 212-686-1229 in May or June to schedule an appointment.

The current open competitive lists for ASA and Admin SA will expire in July and August of 2020, respectively. The ASA list has been called up to #1202 by the NYC Transit Authority, but was not utilized. However, most agencies are calling candidates up to #1007. There are over 80 candidates with list numbers below #1007 still on the list. If an agency only has three or four vacancies, they usually interview about ten candidates.

The same is true for the Admin SA list. Currently, that list has been called up to list #2000, with 30 candidates up to that number still on the list. Vacancies are rare for this title, and the list is not being used that often. Originally, there were three citywide hiring pools for the title. At the time, they called up to list #2422, but some candidates with higher scores still remain on the list.

Some candidates placed themselves on the selective certification lists noted in the NOE for both the ASA and Admin SA exams. You may still place yourself on these lists. Check out the NOE for the relevant exams, which are still posted on the OSA website under the Exams, Lists and Training tab in the section for the 2015 ASA and Admin SA exams. Some appointments have been made above #2000 as a result of the selective certification lists.

If you took and passed these exams, but have not been called yet, it can be difficult to know if you should pay again and retake these exams. The existing lists have about another 15 months before the new lists are published.

For the ASA exam, if your number on the current list is over #1007 or, for the Admin SA exam, if your number on the current list is over #2000 and you have not been appointed by the June filing dates for the new exams, you should probably retake them. If you are appointed from the old list by the time the new exam is given this fall, well, don't sit for the exam. If you retake the exams and are appointed by the time the new list is published around September 2020, then you will have the option to leave your agency and attend other hiring pools.

If you were recently appointed to SA or ASA and are still serving probation, you may still take the promotional exams. You will complete your probation by the time the list is published. If not, you will remain on the promotional list and can be appointed when you complete your probation. (This has to be discussed with your agency.)

OSA will offer classroom style training for the ASA and Admin SA exams. The training will take place over eight or nine weeks, starting in July. The starting week has not yet been determined. The form for participation in the training will be available on the OSA website towards the end of May. Please complete and submit the form early.

The training is free for current OSA and OSART members. If you know of individuals who are not members and would like to take the open competitive exams and to prepare by taking OSA’s exam preparation course, they will have to enroll in our related professional association, OSART. OSART dues are $97.50 for a year. If you are presently an OSART member and will be one at the time of the summer training course, you do not have to renew your membership. However, if your membership will lapse before the training class is given, you will have to resubmit the OSART membership form, along with a $97.50 money order for an additional year of OSART membership.

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING. Our next general membership meeting will take place on Thursday, March 28th starting, as usual, at 6pm in the union office. A flyer to remind you of the date, time and location can be downloaded at this link. You can post it as well. The meeting will be followed by food and then the latest session of our Activists Classroom Training.

News From OSA - March, 2019 NEGOTIATIONS. This will be a short discussion because, while collective bargaining did resume this month (March 8th) and the City did respond to some of our demands, others still await a response. At the next session, which we hope will come more quickly, we anticipate receiving the rest of their responses to our demands. It will also be our turn to respond to those issues for which we already have a response from them. Our new Labor Relations Commissioner has indicated a desire to move along negotiations more quickly and we are in full agreement, but an agreed settlement before the summer may be elusive. There are a couple of points to which we can and will agree, even before the full contract settlement. We will be pleased to accept the City’s offered help of unlimited sick leave for those affected by 9/11 who performed rescue, recovery or cleanup work. We also will accept the offered plan for partially paid family leave. A copy of the Personnel Services Bulletins that will apply to these benefits can be found at the links below. Personnel Services Bulletin 440-16 Paid Family Leave For Represented Employees Personnel Services Bulletin 440-17 Unlimited Sick Leave For Employees With 9/11 Related Illnesses More details on both of these programs will follow as fast as the City provides them. WELCOME HEALTH SERVICES MANAGERS. OSA has always been an organizing union. Most of our members were once upon a time considered managerial and/or confidential by the City and therefore ineligible for collective bargaining representation. Our entire history has been one of proving the City wrong on this count and extending union protection to thousands of previously unrepresented City workers. At the end of March, OSA will welcome approximately 200 new members (mainly from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) working in the Health Services Manager title. We welcome our new brothers and sisters and encourage them to become active in their new union. AFFILIATION. You can download a flier at the link below giving the details of our attempts to affiliate with a larger union over the years. Since we are again engaged in affiliation discussions, providing a review of our decades-long history of prior attempts seemed a good idea. To Affiliate Or Not To Affiliate, That Is The Question EXAM PREPARATION. This year, there will be exams for Associate Staff Analyst (ASA) and Administrative Staff Analyst (Admin SA) sometime near the end of September. Applications for these exams will be open for filing from 6/5/19 - 6/25/19. OSA will be providing help in completing the applications to interested candidates. The Notice of Exam (NOE) and the application forms will be available on the DCAS website during the filing period. There will be promotional and open competitive versions of both the ASA and Admin SA exams. If you are a permanent Staff Analyst(SA), you are eligible for the promotional ASA exam, and if you are a permanent ASA, you are eligible for the promotional Admin SA exam. Everyone who meets the eligibility requirements on the NOE can take either or both open competitive exams. Actually, if you file for both the promotional exam and open competitive exam for the same title, you only take one actual exam and, if you pass, you will be on both the promotional and open competitive lists. It is a good idea to take the open competitive exam for either title, in case your agency does not want to promote you. This way, you would have the opportunity to leave for a better agency. OSA will be offering help in completing the applications during the filing period. Please call us at 212-686-1229 in May or June to schedule an appointment. The current open competitive lists for ASA and Admin SA will expire in July and August of 2020, respectively. The ASA list has been called up to #1202 by the NYC Transit Authority, but was not utilized. However, most agencies are calling candidates up to #1007. There are over 80 candidates with list numbers below #1007 still on the list. If an agency only has three or four vacancies, they usually interview about ten candidates. The same is true for the Admin SA list. Currently, that list has been called up to list #2000, with 30 candidates up to that number still on the list. Vacancies are rare for this title, and the list is not being used that often. Originally, there were three citywide hiring pools for the title. At the time, they called up to list #2422, but some candidates with higher scores still remain on the list. Some candidates placed themselves on the selective certification lists noted in the NOE for both the ASA and Admin SA exams. You may still place yourself on these lists. Check out the NOE for the relevant exams, which are still posted on the OSA website under the Exams, Lists and Training tab in the section for the 2015 ASA and Admin SA exams. Some appointments have been made above #2000 as a result of the selective certification lists. If you took and passed these exams, but have not been called yet, it can be difficult to know if you should pay again and retake these exams. The existing lists have about another 15 months before the new lists are published. For the ASA exam, if your number on the current list is over #1007 or, for the Admin SA exam, if your number on the current list is over #2000 and you have not been appointed by the June filing dates for the new exams, you should probably retake them. If you are appointed from the old list by the time the new exam is given this fall, well, don't sit for the exam. If you retake the exams and are appointed by the time the new list is published around September 2020, then you will have the option to leave your agency and attend other hiring pools. If you were recently appointed to SA or ASA and are still serving probation, you may still take the promotional exams. You will complete your probation by the time the list is published. If not, you will remain on the promotional list and can be appointed when you complete your probation. (This has to be discussed with your agency.) OSA will offer classroom style training for the ASA and Admin SA exams. The training will take place over eight or nine weeks, starting in July. The starting week has not yet been determined. The form for participation in the training will be available on the OSA website towards the end of May. Please complete and submit the form early. The training is free for current OSA and OSART members. If you know of individuals who are not members and would like to take the open competitive exams and to prepare by taking OSA’s exam preparation course, they will have to enroll in our related professional association, OSART. OSART dues are $97.50 for a year. If you are presently an OSART member and will be one at the time of the summer training course, you do not have to renew your membership. However, if your membership will lapse before the training class is given, you will have to resubmit the OSART membership form, along with a $97.50 money order for an additional year of OSART membership. GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING. Our next general membership meeting will take place on Thursday, March 28th starting, as usual, at 6pm in the union office. A flyer to remind you of the date, time and location can be downloaded at this link. You can post it as well. The meeting will be followed by food and then the latest session of our Activists Classroom Training.