The only news this week is the May 1st demonstraton on Broadway near City Hall. Speakers start at 5pm and will go on until 6pm.

A number of our organizers and activists will be there. Stan and Courtney will be at Murray and Broadway, handing out T shirts and hats.

Hope the weather is good.

It was a good week last week. Our brothers and sisters of the Transport Workers Union put to rest the fallacy that there could be no retroactive pay increase.

The TWU contract does not provide large raises and it is a good thing that, at present, the rate of inflation is very low.

But, on the other hand, we have the unlamented former Mayor Bloomberg who said there was no retroactive pay. There would be no retroactive pay. There legally could be no retroactive pay.

Well, Michael Bloomberg, it turns out you were wrong on this, as well as wrong about so much else. There is still a civil service. We still have our health benefits and our welfare funds and now, the transit workers have retroactive pay increases.

Mayor Bloomberg was very concerned about his legacy. Not to worry. His legacy is clear. He was rich, powerful and wrong. He was especially wrong about us.

Last week, there were meetings with the Municipal Labor Committee’s Health Technical Subcommittee and our city counterparts. The goal of the meetings is to come up with savings on health benefits that are mutually agreeable to both management and labor. The early reports are favorable, with a hypothetical jointly agreed upon savings of up to $15 million thus far. The meetings will continue.

A letter was sent out last month notifying members that OSA was switching life insurance carriers from the Prudential Company to the Reliance Company.

Those of you who had optional life insurance with Prudential also had that policy switched to Reliance.

The Prudential Company has now sent out termination letters for their optional policies.

Members who receive that letter have the right to terminate with Prudential or to continue their policy with Prudential. If they opt to continue with Prudential, they will have two policies.

Classes started last week for the Staff Analyst Trainee exam. Over 500 candidates attended in person and others have purchased the DVDs for home study.

Providing test preparation classes for civil service exams is one part of our union’s service to our members. It does not stop there, however. The union also helps any member who is disqualified with appeals to the Committee on Manifest Error and the Civil Service Commission. In addition, OSA monitors hiring pools and the use of the civil service lists that come from those exams.

Our union began 44 years ago as the Council of Personnel Examiners and, while we have grown from that first dozen founding members to a union that covers 400 times as many civil servants, we have not forgotten our roots.

Good luck to all those preparing for the SAT exam.

Finally, mark your calendars for a rally at City Hall starting at 5pm on Thursday, May 1. Labor rights groups, immigrants rights groups and groups fighting for jobs for all will be joining together to mark May Day 2014 with a call to raise the minimum wage, pass the NYS Dream Act, and tax the 1% and Wall Street fairly. A wisde range of labor groups is supporting the rally, including OSA. For a rally flyer, click on this link.