OSA Newsline -- April 26, 1999 The Staff Analyst exam training course has assisted over 600 members by this past weekend. The exams must be postmarked by this Tuesday. We're in negotiations with the HHC over a possible severance offer and details should be final soon. We are also in early negotiations at both TA and citywide. More details later. Breaking News! On April 27, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services announced that the filing period for the Staff Analyst exam has been extended to May 14, 1999. The Union will be offering additional training sessions from May 3 to May 13. Call (212) 686-1229 and speak to George Morgan to sign up. Thats all the news for now.   OSA Newsline -- April 19, 1999 Over two hundred members have passed through our training course for the Staff Analyst Exam. The course is proceeding smoothly thus far. Papers must be postmarked by April 27. A chapter meeting was held at DHS last week, as well as a negotiating session of the Citywide contract. This Tuesday will be the meeting of the newly-aggressive Municipal Labor Committee. Should be interesting.   OSA Newsline - April 12, 1999 Training began April 8 for candidates taking the education and experience exam for Staff Analyst. The low number of members registering for the course made it seem likely that a significant number of our members do not read their union mail. Since the OSA database doesn't differentiate between permanents and provisionals, knowing who to telephone to tell them to take the darn test was difficult. Sheila Gorsky solved the problem, in part, by matching the current Associate Staff Analyst promotional lists against a current list of serving Staff Analysts and Associate Staff Analysts. Most of those we reached by phone acknowledged their neglect of the union mailing as the reason they had not filed for the course as yet. We are not confident of being able to contact all of our provisional members, so we would like to enlist the help of each of you reading this newsline. If you know of a co-worker who may not be permanent in the Staff Analyst title, please mention that on April 27, filing ends for an exam that will not again be given for (probably) the next five years. You may be doing your co-worker an enormous favor. At present, our course is running smoothly, but time is short between today and the April 27 close of filing. There is considerable discussion going on about a move between the Department of Employment and the Human Resources Administration. Some of the DOE staff and functions may be moving to HRA, but details at present do not exist. If the move follows the pattern of recent agency functional transfers, there will be little cause for distress. Historians among us note that a long term close relationship between HRA and DOE exists. Many of the analysts at DOE started at HRA, were assigned to DOE and are now returning whence they came. More information will be provided, as soon as management firms up its plans. The Transit Authority has just issued a Memorandum cutting the maximum annual leave balance from the current maximum of 54 days to a new maximum of 42 days. The memorandum affects only non-represented employees and states that any vacation days over 42 will, after May 1, 2000, be converted to sick leave. Since, by a small margin, the non-represented Analysts at MaBSTOA voted for management and against the union two months ago, this seems strange reward. OSA had expected the bosses at TA to be nice to the non-represented employees, at least until the memory of the election receded. Guess not.   OSA Newsline - April 5, 1999 Last Tuesday, the TA chapter convened and 23 representatives to the full Transit Authority bargaining team were selected. This Tuesday, the TA team will have a follow-up meeting to review contract demands submitted to the union. On Wednesday of this week, the 1999 Staff Analyst Exam opens and applications will be available at 2 Washington Street. On that same evening, our union is holding its initial "train the trainer" session. Thereafter, OSA will be open most evenings to provide instruction and assistance -- by appointment please. Members must register with the union to receive a scheduled appointment. The help is free to union members, but non-members must join our affiliated professional organization OSART for one year at the rate of $97.50. To join OSART, click on the "Current Campaigns" icon to the left and follow the instructions under OSART, or call George Morgan at (212) 686-1229.