OSA Newsline -- January 28 2019

There were two deaths within our labor family last week.

Iris Bailey, leader of a number of OSA’s organizing drives, lost her mother, Deacon Alice Fields. Our hearts goes out to the family.

Also, Stanley Hill, former Executive Director of DC37 and former President of Social Service Employees Union/Local 371 passed away as well.

Our activists knew Stanley because he was nice enough to come and speak at our Activists Classroom Training session last year. Missed, yes. Forgotten? Not while we live.

Moving on to more cheerful matters. We should have an interesting general membership meeting this week. It is true the City has yet to set a date for our next negotiating session, but much else is going on.

Remember, the meeting is at 220 East 23rd Street, 7th Floor, 6pm sharp. The meal follows and then comes Activist Classroom Training for those attending.

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

AUDIO January 28, 2019

OSA Newsline -- January 21 2019

Today we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.

This week’s news goes back to last June. At that time, DC37 settled the contract that set the pattern for the non-pedagogical civilian unions. One aspect of that pattern was a change in how family medical leave benefits are handled.

Previously, the US government had mandated the Family Medical Leave Act. FMLA meant you could now take up to 12 weeks off without pay to deal with family emergencies.

The new change was designed to provide a small payment to the members for a part of the unpaid leave by using the State Workers Compensation Law. Originally, DC37 envisioned this aspect of the contract as requiring joint bargaining by the affected civilian locals, but later this morphed into DC37 going first and the rest following as fast as their contract was negotiated.

Even that simplification did not mean a quick implementation and none did occur until now.

As of last Wednesday, January 16th, Personnel Services Bulletin 440-16 has been updated. Retroactive to January 6th of this year, some employees will be entitled to payments for a number of weeks of Family Medical Leave.

Are we eligible to be covered? Now, that’s a really good question.

We are reaching out to Labor Relations and would hope to have an answer by next week’s newsline. Since it is the pattern and since it says January 6th of this year, are we covered already or does this await final negotiation of our contract?

Either way, now or later, this Personnel Services Bulletin will be important to us, so you can download it at this link.

Since this benefit is paid for by a deduction out of each of our paychecks, it is not really extra money, but it could be an important benefit in time of need.

Other news. As the federal government shutdown continues, we are wondering if the AFL-CIO or the municipal unions are considering any joint efforts to help the workers caught up in this absurd disaster? We are wondering.

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

AUDIO January 21, 2019

OSA Newsline -- January 14, 2019

We are going to delay the January membership meeting until Thursday, January 31st because we are still hoping for a negotiations meeting this month. We would like to report on our progress at the meeting, but if the City does not come through, we still have other business to tranact.

First, of course, we have to install our newly elected or re-elected officers for the next two year term. Then, there are reports due on the Alternate Work Schedule and our current organizing efforts.

Finally, of course, we will be having our regular Activists Classroom Training after the membership meeting.

Food will be provided after the membership meeting and before the training session.

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

AUDIO January 14, 2019

OSA Newsline -- January 2, 2019

2018 ended quietly and 2019 will take a while to get going, at least in terms of negotiations. There were no negotiations over the holidays, but we are pressing the City to resume as soon as possible.

Even without negotiations, other work did proceed. Notably, we had a hearing before the Office of Collective Bargaining on our demand for correct payment of longevity monies due to members promoted from Associate Staff Analyst to Administrative Staff Analyst. The hearing was long-awaited and went well. We will soon see the City’s response.

The next newsline will be posted for Monday, January 14th.

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

AUDIO January 2, 2019