Last week was a good one for OSA at the Police Department. There were three of our members promoted to the position of Deputy Director, one from School Safety, Naomi Aice, and two from Traffic Enforcement, Cheryl Hodge and Stacey Johnson. Their new rank is the equivalent for the paramilitary Police Department to the rank of Colonel in the Army.

Naomi, of course, is Co-Chairperson of our School Safety Chapter and Cheryl, Chairperson of our Traffic Enforcement Chapter.

Also promoted was a single Analyst. Katherine Guarino was appointed to the post of permanent Administrative Staff Analyst. Katie, many members will remember, worked for the OSA union office for many years before passing exams for Staff, Associate and, finally, Administrative Staff Analyst.

The Police Department always has impressive promotion ceremonies and last week our OSA members stood out.

If you'd like to listen to this week's newsline as an audio file, click on this link:

AUDIO October 30, 2017

Michael Schady reports that the Associate Staff Analyst promotional list has now led to 89.8% of the candidates being promoted.

The City did a lot better on the Administrative Staff Analyst promotional list and the numbers are up to nearly 94% promoted.

We also were informed that DCAS will be working with the agencies to move the ACRS list sometime in November. If you are on the list, please check with your agency to see how you might be affected.

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AUDIO October 23, 2017

There are three items of news this week. First, we are pleased to announce that the Department of Health has selected two of our members to be a part of a volunteer team heading to Puerto Rico. Ray Nieves, an Associate Staff Analyst, and Elizabeth Hyde, an Administrative Staff Analyst Non-Managerial, are on 48 hour standby to be sent. They have already been vaccinated and have agreed to go wherever they are needed. OSA takes pride in our volunteers and their willingness to serve others in time of need.

Next, Rob Spencer has provided some new tools for our union activists. If you go to Member Services and then to Union Activist Resources on this website, you will find some videos about our Welfare Fund benefits. The videos are from a recent campaign, but they do answer questions that members often ask.

Finally, our union’s Retirees’ Club sponsored a health check-up day at the union office last week. Our retirees came and were tested and scoped and studied and then counseled on the findings. The service was so popular, it spilled over into a second day.

Was it valuable? Well, many members said so, especially the two members who were referred immediately to the hospital. It seems some symptoms can be ignored, but should not be.

If you'd like to listen to this week's newsline as an audio file, click on this link:

AUDIO October 16, 2017

Training proceeded last week on pensions and civil service rules and laws. Dozens of our members are taking these classes and many are doing so as a part of our Activist Classroom Training (ACT).

If you are interested in joining the ACT program, call John LaGuardia at the union office and sign up.

We have received a request from a delegate to clarify the situation with recent longevity increases. There were two types of increases this year.

First, at the time of the 3% increase in February, members earning the 20 year longevity saw a tiny 3% longevity increase on top of the contractually due 3% salary increase.

Then, more recently, in late August, a more sizable longevity payment arrived for our members in the Administrative Staff Analyst titles Levels 2 and 3.

The first increase came to a bit less than one dollar a week and no one called to state it had not been properly paid, but members who keep their back pay stubs can always check to be sure.

The more recent increase is far more noticeable and, again, no one due such increase has called to state it was not received. Apparently, everything went right.

If you'd like to listen to this week's newsline as an audio file, click on this link:

AUDIO October 9, 2017

Last week’s general membership meeting almost went off schedule. Food was supposed to be available at the close of the membership meeting, but it was set out early. As you might expect, this led to a delayed start to the meeting.

Then again, the main topic, the upcoming negotiations, was of interest to the members and, altogether, we ended up running late. Fortunately, members taking the Activist Classroom Training course reconvened promptly and our training, including four brief videos, ended by 8:02pm, almost exactly on schedule.

It is vital to the long term health of OSA that enough members come forward to be trained for leadership roles within our union. Last week’s meeting was very satisfactory in that regard, but there is always room for a few more to be added to our training roster.

If you are interested, call John LaGuardia at the union office and sign up for our future classes.

Finally, We posted photos from this year's Labor Day Parade under the September 2017 tab in the OSA Photo Gallery section of the website.. If you haven't viewed it yet, take a look.

If you'd like to listen to this week's newsline as an audio file, click on this link:

AUDIO October 2, 2017