OSA Newsline - May 29, 2017

We hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend. Last week’s membership meeting was also the first session of our Activist Classroom Training (ACT). Both the meeting and the training were well attended.

Training our activists is vital to the continued strength of our union. It is important to all our members that union leaders be available to them on our work site locations.

For this reason, we are very pleased at last week’s participation. There will be more sessions in the Fall.

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

AUDIO May 29, 2017

OSA Newsline - May 22, 2017

At a meeting of the Municipal Labor committee last week, the MLC voted to agree to details affecting our health benefits that will complete our four year plan relating to health benefits. Translated into the bottom line, it continues the City’s practice of not charging us for basic health benefits.

The MLC also voted to fund an amicus curiae case on our behalf. The Health and Hospitals Corporation has chosen to challenge OSA on our recent unionization of Senior Auditors. Their law firm, Proskauer Rose, is alleging that the workers are managerial/confidential employees and forbidden to belong to a union.

Our attorney, Len Shrier, will argue on our behalf and, now, with help from the Municipal Labor Committee.

All of us were once claimed to be either managerial or confidential, so this fight is not new to us.

Members attending this Thursday’s general membership meeting will have a chance to attend the first Activist Classroom Training session. This first session discusses OSA’s history and the importance of union activists. If you are coming and staying for the class, please send your registration in to John LaGuardia at the union office so we can order enough food. If you’ve lost the form, you can download one by clicking this link -- or just call John at the union office.

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

AUDIO May 22, 2017

OSA Newsline - May 15, 2017

If any member is taking the Administrative Procurement Analyst exam this week, we will have persons able to assist on the E&E papers this Monday and Wednesday evenings. Please call Alice Moise at the union office for an appointment between 5:30 and 7PM.

This particular education and experience exam is more specific in its requirements than some recent ones, but if you have a background in the area, Alice will try to assist you.

Other than that, we have been receiving the applications for the Activist Classroom Training this past week, but there is still time if you are interested. Need a registration form? Download one by clicking this link.

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

AUDIO May 15, 2017

OSA Newsline - May 8, 2017

A mailing is going out this week and should be received by next weekend or earlier. If you are in a hurry to read it, it is already on this website as the May 2017 OSA Newsletter.

The letter includes news of our first Activist Classroom Training session, set for the evening of the membership meeting, Thursday, May 25th. This first session will talk of OSA’s history and the importance of activists to our union - past, present, and future.

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

AUDIO May 8, 2017

OSA Newsline - May 1, 2017

We lost Lou Albano last week, one of our finest. Lou was, for 17 years, the president of Local 375 of District Council 37, the Civil Service Technical Guild, representing architects and engineers. It was in that role that he became known to us at OSA as a primary advocate for and supporter of the Civil Service System.

Lou was scheduled, last Thursday, to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Civil Service Merit Council. Sadly, he passed away one day before the award ceremony.

As the announcement of Lou’s passing was made, a sigh passed through the room full of two hundred supporters of the Civil Service System. No, they were told, do not be sad. Lou would have been overjoyed to see the room filled with union officers and activists, all of whom supported his vision of a fair and honest Civil Service System.

Lou did his part and it remains for us to carry on his work.

May is Labor history Month. There are quite a few events, presentations and screenings celebrating labor history. You can download a calendar of the events at the link below. Some are free. All are interesting.

Labor History Month Calendar - May 2017

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

AUDIO May 1, 2017