Members attending last week’s membership meeting heard some good news.

First, our organizational drive has reached the point last week that we were able to submit cards showing that well over a hundred Assistant and Associate Directors of Nursing wish to join our union. It is a fine start.

Next, we learned the details of the UFT agreement on maternity and paternity leave. The union gave up 72 days of contract extension in return for six weeks of full pay upon need.

Then, we learned the intention of DC37 to seek a different program on similar lines. The non-pedagogical unions will be seeking Family Medical Leave coverage by the State in return for deduction from our paychecks of less than two dollars a week. The plan offers up to $659 a week for up to eight weeks this year, up to ten weeks next year and up to twelve weeks by the year 2021.The financial amount goes up as well.

Finally, we learned of the tentative pattern settlement. It looks like a bit more than two percent annually over a 41 month contract. Two percent for the first year, 2.25% for year two and 3% for the last 17 months.

In return, the main health give back is for employees new to the City to be required to choose HIP for health coverage on arrival. After a year, the new employee would be free to switch to GHI or any other carrier.

Now, we did learn a lot, but most of it is still to be bargained. First comes the DC37 bargaining and then the rest of us.

So, there has been progress and the City did drop its original absurd demands. Even so, the process is long and it is unwise to show impatience, so we will be patient and thorough.

But, still, for now, a bit of good news.

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AUDIO June 25, 2018

Just when you think that nothing is happening, something always happens. Our side has reached some conclusions about give backs that we might find acceptable in the current negotiations.

As you are aware, the City had come up with a long list of unacceptable give backs and it was our turn to counter.

Now, thanks to the Municipal Labor Committee’s Health Technical Subcommittee, we may be prepared with a counter offer. The initial vote will be taken by the MLC Steering Committee on Monday and by the entire MLC membership on Wednesday.

We will not discuss the details until the MLC has debated and voted, but we are ourselves favorable to the proposed counter offer and, of course, the results of the MLC meetings will be known by the night of our Thursday evening general membership meeting.

Do keep in mind that we are still in the early stages of the negotiations, but still it is nice that there is some progress.

Members attending Thursday’s meeting should be aware that first comes the meeting and then, after the meeting, the Activist Classroom Training session. This week’s guest will be Stanley Hill, friend of OSA and former President of SSEU Local 371 and former Executive Director of District Council 37.

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AUDIO June 18, 2018

All members should have received this month’s mailing by now. If not, call George at the union office. He will check your mailing address and will send you a copy of the mailing.

Since the mailing was written, there has been no further progress in negotiations, and now, of course, summer is upon us. Negotiations usually slow down in this season, but since it is early in the negotiation process and they were going slowly anyway, it will be hard to tell.

Certainly, the City’s offers so far are not appealing since they seem to want more than is being offered.

If you want to sign up for the Activist Classroom Training, our next session is after this month’s membership meeting. To sign up, call John LaGuardia at the union office.

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AUDIO June 11, 2018

Our union has never stopped organizing since 1970. Thus, the name, Organization of Staff Analysts or, put another way, organizing staff analysts.

Four of our most recent efforts are all in progress.

We have reached a moment of disappointment with the title of Health Services Manager. The City had offered to work out a stipulation of settlement six months ago. We agreed, since, if the City was being honest, the stipulation would have ended our efforts successfully and most HSM’s would have full union rights.

After six months of discussion, it is clear the City is just using the offered stipulation as a delaying tactic. Therefore, we will insist on resumption of the hearings to seek full final representation of all Health Services Managers.

Our union, when faced with the City’s deceitful delaying tactics, could lose heart and give up the effort. We never do. We will win this fight because we are right.

We have made dramatic progress on the Associate and Assistant Directors of Hospitals campaign. The two unions fighting for these workers, ourselves and Communications Workers of America Local 1180 are working together to submit final papers to the Office of Collective Bargaining. The campaign nears conclusion.

We also reached a milestone in the campaign on behalf of the Patient Representatives of the Health and Hospitals Corporation. The OCB set early August as the deadline for those papers as well. We are hoping for the election to be held in the Fall.

Finally, our field organizers have signed up nearly a third of the Assistant Directors of Nursing and we plan to file those cards this month.

Virtually all of our organizing efforts since 1970 have been resisted and delayed by the City. The City has been known to lie and cheat in these efforts to stop employees from being represented.

We don’t lie, we don’t cheat, and we don’t stop until we win. It demands a lot of patience for us to see the process through but we always do. If the members did not want us to have a union, we would have stopped long ago. If it is only the City who does not want us to have a union., we will never stop.

And, for the past 48 years straight, we have never stopped.

We re not managerial,we are not confidential. Our employer lies about this and we fight those lies as long as our union exists.

Thanks are due to our volunteer field organizers and to a unionized work force that reaches out to help those who are not yet members of our union.

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AUDIO June 4, 2018