| OSA Newsline -- June 28, 2021
There has been enough recent progress on our contract negotiations that last week OSA held its first in-person meeting of the union bargaining team since last March. We have reduced the number of issues open between us and the City, so we are hopeful.
As we have learned in the past, the negotiation is not over until it is over, but we would be very pleased to settle as soon as possible. Not, however, on bad terms, ever.
Last week's newsline mentioned that we have been assured that GHI Senior Care will be kept as an option when the City moves most retirees to a Medicare Advantage program.
We mention it again because a score of calls came in asking that that be arranged, and it has been.
Finally, Metro Plus needs a few good 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.
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:
Juneteenth is now a Federal holiday and that does mean that Federal employees get the day off. It is also a City holiday, but that does not automatically mean City employees get the day off. We don't.
The Mayor has graciously allowed us to take the day off using annual leave, but that is not the same thing. In prior years, the same sort of thing happened with Martin Luther King Day. The City refused to declare it a paid holiday unless the unions agreed to give up something in exchange.
Lincoln's Birthday became a 'floating' holiday for City workers and, years later, it was lost entirely for new hires. Our union did not like that process and would not like to see it repeated, but the City may well choose to use Juneteenth as a chip to be traded in further negotiations.
Current negotiations are improving on two fronts.
Our local contract is still in informal discussions, but it is clear that the City understands our position of not paying to make rational the Administrative level pay grades. We are hopeful that the City will drop the demand for our paying for that and will still address the pay grades.
Our Citywide issue of the changeover to Medicare Advantage for retiree healthcare is in final negotiation stage. The newest detail is that it is confirmed that GHI SeniorCare, as it now stands, will remain as an option for those who choose to avoid the Medicare Advantage option.
This news will reassure many of our retirees. Be patient. None of us can judge the situation fully until all the details are final. The new plan may meet our needs well, or not, as we will decide.
Implementation of the new plan and any new fees has now been delayed until January 1st. The decision on final choice of vendors should come soon.
At that point, the proposals will be a concrete reality and can be submitted to a vote, and the education process for the union leadership and members can begin. January 1st is a long way off, so there should be time enough to answer all questions.
Finally, we have a mailing due out, but it will not be received until late next week at the earliest. It is already posted on this website as the June 2021 OSA Newsletter.
If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:
We have a meeting of the Municipal Labor Committee this week. The topics of most interest are unlikely to be resolved. There is no early out package as of yet, but neither is there any word of an absolute no on the topic either.
The topic of the change in our retiree health care is also likely not to be resolved this week either. Earlier, people were speculating that the proposed changes would occur on July 1st, but now speculation is that it could be as late as the New Year before any changes are decided upon.
At this point, negotiations are still ongoing, so no one knows any of the final details yet. That fact, by itself, causes some retirees to become very upset. However, there is no point to it. We are all concerned that a decent plan be obtained and that, in itself, is our best defense.
If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:
Many members have received our May mailing by now. If you have not received it by Monday of this week, call George at the union office so we can check your address and send you a copy.
The mailing details our current difficulty in negotiations and our decision to go to Impasse, based on the City's demands. Some members called in to ask if this meant that the City and union are no longer talking.
The answer is that we are still talking and there is always hope that we can resolve the differences between us. The meetings and conversations are no longer as formal as they had been. The City is now on notice about our absolute refusal to go along with their demands, as written, but that does not mean that we would reject any fair compromise.
So yes, we are still talking.
If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:
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