Our union will be given access to our future members home addresses officially for the first time this Friday. The TA had sought to restrict union access to the Analysts both at work sites and at home as well but the Public Employee Relations Board has ruled in our favor.
By mid-November, PERB is requiring the TA to provide a list of affected work sites, and on December 9th, notice of the election is to be posted at each site.
The ballots will go out in the mail the last week in December and must be returned by February 3rd.
All of this is good news for our union and our brothers and sisters working in Transit.
Meanwhile, much closer in time, the union asks all members and newsline readers to vote in the national election November 3rd. Voting matters a lot
OSA Newsline - October 19, 1998
Meetings were held with twenty-seven Staff and Associate Staff Analysts at the Transit Authority last week.
Their main question was to ask when would they ever be allowed to vote. That answer should be in our hands early next week. On the 26th the Pubilc Employees Relations Board has ordered the TA to produce a list of voters and to discuss the dates of the election.
Other questions asked included a request that OSA prepare a chart of their current benefits and the new benefits available after achieving collective bargaining status.
Benefits were not a issue in our prior elections, since OSA models itself after the Management Benefits Fund. The TA, however is different. A chart will be prepared. Our benefits are better and more complete.
OSA Newsline - October 13, 1998
On Wednesday evening our Political Action Group has a special treat in store. At 6:00 pm, a most unusual guest speaker will address the group, "Grampa" from the old TV show "The Munsters." Grampa, known to his fellow residents on Roosevelt Island as Al Lewis, is not coming to 220 East 23rd Street to scare us... or perhaps he is.
Al Lewis is the Green Party-designated candidate for Governor in New York State and if he does try to scare us at all it will be in defense of nature, ecology and all that other good stuff.
The union will provide a light dinner for those attending. We will even seek to come up with a Halloween cake in order to provide a proper welcome for Grampa.
All members and guests are welcome and the meeting should conclude by 7:15 or 7:30.
OSA Newsline - October 5, 1998
As of last Friday, the Transit Authority and MaBSTOA must count all those on board in our titles. On October 26th the TA must produce a list of the eligible voters and once we have accepted their list, choose a date for an election.
OSA naturally prefers the sooner the better, but the December holiday mail could be a problem -- unless we move quickly. It will be a mail ballot and, with luck, it will be this year.
Our members at TA and MaBSTOA are to be congratulated for their patience and persistence.
