OSA Newsline - October 27, 2003

Two bits of good news this week.

First, our office will complete assembly of the drug rider reimbursement checks this week and those checks should be in your hands by late next week.

Second, Attorney Joan Kiok, on behalf of OSA and the Civil Service Merit Council, sent copies of our court case against the Sanitation Department to Agency Counsel. In response, the Sanitation Department has called a hiring pool for candidates on the Associate Staff Analyst list.

Good. Now we will watch carefully to see that the agency acts in good faith. Let's hope they do. Sanitation is an agency that plays fair with members of its uniformed forces. All we want is equal treatment for civilian member of that force.

There are two events this week and one next week.

First, DC37 is holding its rally at City Hall this Wednesday, October 29th, after work from 5-7:30pm. Dress warmly and be there. A flyer for the demonstration can be dowloaded by clicking here.

Second, the OSA general membership meeting is this Thursday, October 30th at 6pm. Light refreshments are provided.

Finally, next week, on Tuesday morning, we all must remember to go out and vote against the Mayor's propositions (#3-5). Vote on election day.
OSA Newsline - October 20, 2003

A mailing will be going out this week but we don't know exactly when the mailing house will get it into your mailbox. On arrival, however, it will consists of seven pages of news and announcements.

You will find the mailing posted as the October, 2003 edition of News From OSA on this website.

We are facing an unusual year in our collective bargaining and the mailing focuses mainly on that and threats to the PICA and the cost of our healthcare.

The mailing does announce that our general membership meeting is set for Thursday, October 30th at 6pm at the union office and, in addition, that one day before that there will be a major demonstration by DC37 down at City Hall. A flyer for the demonstration can be dowloaded by clicking here. Please set your calendars accordingly.
OSA Newsline - October 13, 2003

We have good news this week. Our team working on the hospital layoffs announced two weeks ago, Sheila Gorsky and Shirley Gray, have been successful. The threatened layoff of one of our members has been cancelled. Excellent work and the highest praise is due to our team.

There is also progress on the issue of health coverage. Negotiations were deadlocked for the past seven months due to a dispute referred to the Conflict of Interests Board by City Hall. The COIB has finally ruled that there never was a conflict of interest in the first place, so negotiations can proceed.

Finally, some progress has been made on monies owed us from the prior contract and details will follow.
OSA Newsline - October 6, 2003

Our union office has been very busy most evenings so far this month. Tuesdays have been occupied by the pre-retirement seminars, Wednesdays with the business writing classes and Thursdays have been devoted to the driver improvement classes.

As of this Friday, October 10th, our film series starts up again with Rob Spencer's offering of the film Harlan County USA. The 1976 film won an Academy Award for that year. Films start at 6:30p.m. Light refreshments are provided and informal discussions follow each screening. Bring a friend. A flyer with the complete fall schdule of films can be downloaded here. Print it out and circulate it among your colleagues at work.

Sincere congratulations are due to Police Department member Staff Analyst Marie Hernandez who won an award for physical fitness from that agency. Wow, OSA is extremely pleased.

Congratulations are also due to those of our members who could find the OSA delegation at Saturday's Immigrant Workers Rights rally in Queens. Since the media reported over 100,000 persons to have attended, it obviously turned out to be somewhat difficult for anyone to find anyone.

So much for the light stuff.

Negotiations continue with the Mayor on a very tense basis. Layoffs are now set for some hospitals and OSA has been targeted to lose one more member, a Senior Healthcare Program Planning Analyst. We will work very hard to avoid this layoff.

Most of the current negotiations are focusing on health costs and the Mayor's constant talk of givebacks. The PICA card is at risk, our coverage for hospitalization has been made a political issue, and negotiations are tough. The one bright note is that Tom Anderson and Sheila Gorsky have finally been able to obtain payments due us for the drug reimbursement monies due over two years ago. There will be detail on this long-delayed payment in the October membership mailing, which will be posted shortly as the October "News From OSA" on this website.