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OSA Newsline - July 25, 2005
At the negotiating session held Friday, the issues of the final one percent on the old contract were discussed. The City was not prepared with the costing of the DC37 settlement, but did cite three areas of productivity. First, there was mention of agreements to seek reductions of sick leave usage — and for that we are to be given credit automatically, it would seem. Second came the issue of civilianization of the police clerical jobs and OSA noted the extent to which the same potential savings would apply to our own members working alongside uniformed personnel. The third point raised was the issue of contracting-in of computer related work and, there too, OSA was able to respond that a great deal of analytical work could be done less expensively by our own members, at lower rates than are now paid outside vendors. The union also brought up the potential for savings from a voluntary furlough system and those details were discussed at considerable length. The City stated that they hoped to get back to us for further negotiations by early August. This is not going to happen overnight. Members should check this website again on Friday, August 5th. All the information on these negotiations will be on this newsline page before it is even shared with the staff at the union office. Finally, DCAS released its preliminary key for the Administrative Staff Analyst exam today. The PDF file contains the tentative keys on the main exam given June 25 and the alternate exams given June 26 and July 15. You can download it from the link below: Prelminary Administrative Staff Analyst Exam Key We encourage candidates who have reserved their right to review the test papers to match the item analysis which appears in the Newsline for July 11 below against the tentative answer key. On the day of the review, it would make sense to focus on questions where both you and a large number of other candidates differed with the "correct" answer as given on the tentative answer key. As you can see, there are some questions where a large number of individuals have chosen an answer different from that chosen by DCAS. This raises the possibility that either there is more than one "correct" answer or that the "correct" answer is not correct. The protest period begins today, July 25th and closes on August 24th. The final answer key will be issued once the appeals process has been completed. Good luck on your appeals. |
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OSA Newsline - July 11, 2005
The Administrative Staff Analyst Exam item analysis is now complete. You may download the results by clicking on the links below. A total of 300 answer sheets submitted to the union were analyzed and tallied for the main test given on Saturday, June 25, 2005 and 17 answer sheets were analyzed and tallied for the Sunday, June 26th Sabbath Observer exam. Only full papers were counted. If a copy of the test answers had fewer than 100 questions marked, the paper was excluded from the analysis. The Alternate exam on Sunday, June 26th had the same questions but in a different numerical order. Item Analysis For the Administrative Staff Analyst Exam -- Main Session -- Saturday, June 25, 2005 We will also be sending copies out in the mail to those who took the training course. For each of the 100 questions on the exam, you will see the total number and the percentage of those returning their answer sheets to the union who selected Answer A, B, C or D. When 60% or more chose one answer, it appears in bold type. On most Civil Service exams, those answers selected by 60% of the candidates usually turn out to be the "correct" answers. The tentative answer key will be issued by DCAS on Monday, July 25, 2005. It will be on their website and on this site as well. Candidates who have reserved their right to review the test papers should match the item analysis against the tentative answer key. On the day of the review, it would make sense to focus on questions where both you and a large number of other candidates differed with the "correct" answer as given on the tentative answer key. Note, of course, that questions of fact are either right or wrong. If there is a question of judgment, however, a large number of individuals choosing an answer different from that chosen by DCAS raises the possibility that either there is more than one "correct" answer or that the "correct" answer is not correct. The final answer key will be issued once the appeals process has been completed. Good luck on your appeals. |
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OSA Newsline - July 8, 2005
DC37 has historically set the pattern for civilian non-pedagogical collective bargaining for over 30 years. The 2002 to 2005 contract spoke of a potential extra one percent due as of 7/1/04 if details could be worked out. For over two months now, we have been hearing that 37 was going to get the one percent as soon as the police arbitration award was announced. The prediction was correct. The PBA award was announced and DC37 announced the extra 1%. Some employers, such as the Transit Authority and CUNY have not yet settled, but negotiations are going on. While OSA is generally bound by the pattern set by DC37, we are a separate bargaining unit and called on Tuesday to schedule a collective bargaining session on the one percent. We are now set to meet with the City on July 22nd. Many members assume that we will be offered the same deal as DC37 and one could argue that it is a reasonable assumption. On the other hand, that may or may not occur. We will probably not know the City's intentions before the collective bargaining session on July 22nd. The newsline will be changed for July 23rd, so members can and should visit this site again for updates. Members should not call the union office about the one percent raise. A flood of phone calls will make it hard for grievances, or welfare fund or general information calls to get through. As fast as we do know anything more about the one percent, it will be communicated through the phone hotline and this page. The phone hotline itself can be busy on rare occasions early in the work day, but is pretty much available at all other times. Our second topic relates to the Administrative Staff Analyst Exam item analysis. As promised, the tabulations are just about complete, two weeks after the exam. By Tuesday, we should have our results up on this site. We will also be sending copies out in the mail and they should be in candidates' mailboxes by late next week. Note that copies are only being sent to those who took the training course. Anyone else wanting a copy can call George Morgan or get them on this website. |
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OSA Newsline - July 4, 2005
The only news this week is that, since the police have settled, DC37 should now be settling for the extra one percent, but we don't have confirmation at present. We should know by the end of the week. Candidates have sent us copies of many test papers from the Administrative Staff Analyst Exam. We should have the item analysis complete this week. |