OSAunion
OSA Newsline -- July 27, 2021

PLEASE NOTE: READ THE ENTIRE NEWSLINE. WAIT FOR THE MAILING IN AUGUST EXPLAINING HOW TO SUBMIT PROOF OF VACCINATION TO THE UNION. PLEASE DO NOT MAIL THEM/EMAIL THEM TO THE UNION. YOU WILL ONLY HAVE TO RESUBMIT THEM.

The prior newsline reported on exams. It is still available further down this page, below this newsline message.

The Covid plague is getting its second wind.

It slowed down last summer and sprang back hard upon us in the fall.

This time around, we have a vaccine, but many have resisted taking it. In response, the Organization of Staff Analysts' Welfare Fund's Trustees have voted to send a Health Benefit Award to each of our members who have received or will receive the vaccination. The Award will be accompanied by a $500 check, to each active or retired member of our Welfare Fund.

Covid is a matter of life or death. We have never faced such a challenge before in our Welfare Fund's history. We have already lost scores of members to this plague and we are trying to avoid losing more.

The Mayor is already moving towards compelling weekly testing and mask wearing, but he will likely go further.

We prefer to assist our members in making this decision, but remember, it is a decision for us all.

By early August, we hope to have mail out to all Welfare Fund active and retired members.

This is a big job for us, but we feel it is worth our effort.

If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:

AUDIO - July 27, 2021

OSA Newsline -- July 26, 2021

We seem to be closing in on contract resolution, but we have been disappointed a few times since March of 2020. More news on the next newsline.

This newsline has some civil service items of importance. Our thanks to Barbara Dannenberg of DCAS for this information.

Administrative Staff Analyst

  • There is an active list from Exam 5011. It was extended for one year and will now expire on 9/28/21. DCAS is not planning to extend the list again, due to the new Administrative Staff Analyst lists being ready for establishing.

  • Pending lists for Open Competitive and Promotional Admin SA are near completion and are scheduled to be established upon the expiration of List 5011 on 9/28/21.

    Associate Staff Analyst

  • There is an active list from Exam 5014 which was extended for one year and will now expire on 8/10/21. Personnel is not planning to extend that list again, due to the new Associate Staff Analyst lists being ready for establishing.

  • Pending lists for Open Competitive and Promotional Associate Staff Analyst are near completion and are scheduled to be established upon the expiration of List 5014 on 8/10/21.

    Health Services Manager

  • There is an active list from Exam 6047 which has been extended until 5/24/2022. Forty-five (45) eligibles remain on the list.

  • A pending list from Exam 0104 was published on 2/17/21. That list is to be established when List 6047 expires or when the active list is exhausted.

    Administrative Community Relations Specialist

  • There is an active list from Exam 7011 which is scheduled to expire on 9/20/21. Personnel is not planning to extend the list.

  • A pending list from Exam 1120 is near completion and will be published when exam 7011 expires in September 2021.

    If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:

    AUDIO - July 26, 2021

  • OSA Newsline -- July 14, 2021

    Three items of interest.

    First, members have the right to claim three hours of compensatory time off if they have completed their Covid vaccination(s). Just bring in the card you received showing that you got the shots and check with time keeping or personnel as to how to get your three hours credited.

    Second, we are pleased to note that when some of our newly unionized Directors of Information Services had their titles switched by management, we were able to get the switch reversed.

    New York City Health + Hospitals, for many years, has been creating non-union titles and switching employees, against their will, out of union coverage. On this occasion, H+H's Central Office, on our complaint, reversed the move.

    The members were pleased.

    Third, the Municipal Labor Committee approved the switch from a Medigap program into a Medicare Advantage program for our retirees.

    The vote, taken today, completes three years of health benefits negotiations.

    The new plan is modeled closely upon the existing GHI Senior Care program offered by Emblem Health. This was important to the unions involved, since we are generally satisfied with Senior Care and did not want it changed dramatically.

    Those affected will be able to keep their doctors, so long as they accept Medicare. Also, places like Memorial Sloan Kettering and the Hospital for Special Surgery will continue to be available to us.

    There will be increased co-pays, but these fees, deductibles and copays, together, are capped at a maximum of $1,470 per year. In return, monthly drug costs are coming down and there are a variety of new benefits, such as $500 a year for hearing aids. There is also a Silver Sneakers program, a free fitness monitor and so forth, all in the service of wellness.

    Details will be going out in the mail between now and the January 1st start date.

    Meanwhile, we provide an outline of the new program at the following link:

    Summary of the features of the new Medicare Advantage plan for Medicare-eligible City retirees.

    Finally, a couple of weeks back, we told you that New York City Health+Hospital's Metro Plus health plan was seeking a few people to answer questions about what they should provide as a health care provider.

    If you are an active City employee using any City health plan other than Metro Plus, they want to talk to you. It will be a one hour video interview and you will get to tell them what you think is important in a health care plan.

    There will be a modest $20 reward given to participants.

    Are you willing? Send an email to healthsurvey@osaunion.org. In your email, please let us know if you have children or not, as Metro Plus is looking to talk to some employees with dependent children and some without.

    If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:

    AUDIO - July 14, 2021

    OSA Newsline -- July 5, 2021

    Mayor de Blasio is clearly not going to approve any early out retirement incentive. That was always his prerogative. Still, he really could have made clear his decision earlier. Keeping people hopeful for the past few months was unnecessary.

    Our grievance department had a nice victory at the Department of Education. It came to our members' attention that they were receiving a lower rate of leave accrual than other OSA members.

    It turned out that the Agency was using the DC 37 leave accrual schedule, whereas OSA's is a bit more generous. We had to fight to correct the error retroactively, but we won.

    Twenty-one of our members were affected. A few were awarded over three weeks of extra leave time, but the average, across the group, was a bit over 6 days of added leave. Just in time for summer.

    Our union contract negotiations and the Municipal Labor Committee retiree health negotiations are still continuing, although both seem to be reaching conclusion.

    This Newsline will now go to the normal bi-weekly schedule for the summer, but if either the MLC or the union negotiations are completed, there will be an early update. Otherwise, check back in two weeks.

    If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:

    AUDIO - July 5, 2021