A mailing will go out this week and will be posted as the June 'News From OSA' on this website, detailing the changes proposed to our pension system. The news is good. The high points are the improvements in each of the tiers. Tier I and II members will have up to 2 years of service credit added to their time served. Tier III and IV will have pension contributions reduced and there will be improvements in the calculation of the final average salary for Tier II members.
Mayor Giuliani stated, "Randi Weingarten, as the chair of the MLC, has shown her leadership qualities in bringing consensus among the civilian and uniformed unions."
Randi herself stated: "By remaining united in bargaining with the City, all of the unions were able to obtain a better agreement than we would have if we had all tried to negotiate separately."
Amen
OSA Newsline – May 22, 2000
This week, the Supervising Systems Analysts of the Health and Hospitals Corporation will vote to choose as their union the Organization of Staff Analysts or DC37.
DC37 has done a full court press the past two weeks, with field organizers, pens, pins, and even T-shirts. During all the years since 1982, DC37 did not even bother to file to represent these workers, but now it is different. OSA did all the work from 1982 through 2000 and now, at last, DC37 arrives to claim the members.
Up to this weekend, HHC Supervising Systems Analysts were not even told, should they choose DC37, which local will actually represent them - simply that they should vote for DC37 because its bigger.
Bigger is not always better and the eighteen year hiatus of organizing activity by DC37 proves that point all too well. We were the ones in need of a union and we were left to create our own.
We'll see you at the membership meeting this Thursday at the union office, 220 East 23rd Street Suite 709, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. As always, refreshments will be served.
OSA Newsline – May 15, 2000
All members are urged to wear their button all day on Thursday, May 18th. We sent out thousands of buttons this past week and you should receive yours in the mail before this Thursday. If you don?t receive your button in the mail, we have plenty more at 220 East 23rd Street and any activist who is willing to stop by can pick up enough for his or her office. Please call first to let us know to have them ready. Feel free to wear them after May 18th too!
Ballots will go out for the Supervising Systems Analyst election after this weekend. We ask our current members at HHC to give one last pitch on behalf of OSA to our new brothers and sisters. It has been a long fight to get this far, but it has never been lonely because we had each other.
The very first goal of our organization said it best-- Analysts helping Analysts.
OSA Newsline – May 8, 2000
A mailing went out over the weekend, which will be posted shortly on this website as News From OSA for May, 2000, describing in detail the Mayor's list of proposed give-backs. Included in the letter is OSA's response to the Mayor's proposals -- No.
Our second session of Transit Authority bargaining is now scheduled. In the meantime, our grievance department is now engaged in defending one of our members on charges stemming from the recent Metrocard scandal. It seems that one of the Railroad Clerks of the TA developed a clever scam where he filled up used and discarded Metrocards with thousands of dollars of unpaid-for fares. The Railroad Clerk involved is in the hands of the District Attorney and the
Transit Authority has a very red face.
Transit has decided our member was at fault for not detecting the scam earlier, but we do not agree. It is traditional to blame a lower level employee for errors of omission by management, but OSA does not endorse nor accept that tradition.
OSA Newsline – May 1, 2000
We have a copy of the City's demands made to Local 237 Teamsters. These same demands will be handed to us as well.
The City demands that we give back 3 days of annual leave at all levels. Thus, new employees would start at 15 days per year if covered by OSA and 12 days per year if covered by other contracts. Vacation in all cases would rise to 22 days at eight years of service and max out after 15 years at 24 days.
Sick leave would be left intact at 12 days, except that for the first three days used each year, the City would only pay ½ of our daily salary.
Nights would, according to the City, no longer start at sundown. Instead the 10% night differential would only begin at 12 A.M., otherwise known as midnight.
In return for these – and a dozen more – wacky give backs, the Mayor is offering a five year contract with no guarantied increases at all.
More details in the next 'News From OSA.'
