| OSA Newsline -- May 25, 2020
Our most recent set of redeployments has been into the SNAP program. Our members will now be helping process applicants for food stamps. This is a program that has seen an unusually large number of applicants, due to the economic dislocation caused by the coronavirus.
The job is done from home and is clearly a temporary assignment due to the current crisis.
The regular union mailing went out and should be in most members' mailboxes by last week or this. Some members who did receive the hard copy complained that, between email and the newsline, actual mailings were not needed.
We have to disagree. While you, and many others, do call the newsline or read it on the OSA website, many other members do not. For example, OSA has offered free subscriptions to the Chief newspaper for any members willing to provide their home email address and only half the membership has agreed.
There will come a time when most, or all, communication will be electronic but, for now, the union still feels it’s valuable to send out hard copy, although less so than in the past.
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The City is currently working with us, DC37 and CWA on the Social Distancing Ambassador Program.
The job has now been formalized as an assignment requiring a strange work week, 11 A.M. to 7 P.M. daily, five days a week, but always including Saturday and Sunday, plus either three days before or three days after.
If it is nice weather, you will be asked to give away free masks to any who want one and to remind folks to maintain a safe distance when in the park.
It is not an enforcement job and you will be expected to walk away from any difficult, unfriendly or confrontational individuals. You will be issued a City phone and you will be able to report to your superiors any difficult situation. The enforcement jobs are being performed by Park Rangers, Park Police and, where needed, the regular police force.
The City does have the right, in this emergency, to redeploy staff, often to work far outside their normal work but, at present, they are seeking volunteers. If you are interested, call the union and ask to speak to Adam Orgel. One perk of this job is that we were told by the Office of Labor Relations, on bad days, during rainstorms or an unseasonal cold snap, Ambassadors will be released to go home since the Parks would be empty.
Governor Cuomo spoke this week of possibly redeploying thousands of State civil servants into the coronaviris tracking task force, but no such large-scale plans have been announced by the City, at this time.
Even so, during a phone conference with the larger civilian unions last Friday, the Office of Labor Relations said that they are studying the need for redeployment of underutilized staff to areas hard hit by the crisis.
We also learned that mandatory testing, twice a week, is now in place in acute care settings and, in non-acute areas, there is a goal of at least checking temperatures.
Finally, the current fight over the aid package in Washington should worry us as President Trump seems oblivious to the seriousness of the economic situation.
A union mailing is due out sometime this week and will be posted on the "News From OSA" section of this website as well.
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The Office of Labor Relations reached out to us last week with a new program the City will be implementing. There is a need for a new group called Social Distancing Ambassadors.
This job is in response to our City's goal of slowing the coronavirus through the use of social distancing. Most of us do agree to the value of the steps already taken, such as face masks and avoiding close contact in public areas.
At the same time, it is May and cabin fever will tempt many of us to visit the open parks and public areas.
It will be the job of our Social Distancing Ambassadors to gently and politely remind anyone in need of reminding, that the virus is still with us.
Until now, that job was being done by Police Officers, for the most part, but is an inappropriate use of their time in most cases.
Ambassadors will be trained before deployment and will be issued remote communication devices. If a problem arises, our members will reach out to their supervisors. This is not envisioned as a job where our members are asked to enforce rules, but one where we caution those forgetful of the rules.
The assignment may require a change of regular work hours as the City feels the parks need this service between 11:00 A.M. and 7:00 P.M.
This is an unusual assignment to say the least.
Most years, we would give our eye teeth to be asked to stroll through the parks in springtime but, of course, this is not a normal year.
The assignments will start this month and will continue until further notice.
Also, we do have many members who are still reporting to their regular places of work and we know that the rest of us may be asked to do so, as soon as the medical situation permits.
In light of this, OSA representatives Alice Moise and Sharon Jack have been a part of a labor- management team working to ensure that the work sites are cleaned and as safe as possible.
The effort is ongoing and a meeting, by way of Zoom, is being held today. We are working with the other unions to push for industrial deep cleaning of the offices.
The proposal is for using antibacterial and antiviral measures including chemical, electrostatic and even ultraviolet disinfecting.
More on these plans as they develop.
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New York City has been hit the hardest of all by the coronavirus. No other city in this country, or even the world, took a harder hit.
We have lost thousands, and more each day, and the only bright note is that we did manage to "flatten the curve" by social distancing.
Our local leaders fumbled a bit at first, but soon came the shuttering of Broadway and the closing of movies, schools and restaurants. We learned quickly, responded well and saved many lives as a result.
All of this came at a cost, as our tourist industry disappeared entirely and a dozen other industries were gravely affected. Tax dollars were lost just when our need to pay to fight the pandemic was at its greatest.
Our federal government was slow to respond but, eventually, in spite of an uneven and vacillating Executive, Congress was able to pass an initial aid package to begin to help affected individuals and small businesses.
Further help was promised, but now Senator Mitch McConnell has chimed in that he is opposed to helping out blue states like New York. He urges us to go bankrupt. Our president, who has a lot of experience with bankruptcy, has also given his opinion. No help should go to sanctuary cities.
We have been here before.
In 1975, Gerald Ford told us to go bankrupt.
We did not then and we will not now.
We do not think that Congress will abandon the afflicted cities and states.
In response to these fiscal storm clouds, the Office of Labor Relations reached out to OSA last week. They confirmed their intent to complete a contract with us, but also warned that progress would be slowed until the City has a clearer idea about an aid package.
We appreciate their candor.
We are still upset that we did offer to settle last June and it was no delay of ours that created the current problem.
That said, we can more easily accept why they can't go forward now than we could for all those months before the crisis hit.
On a still more serious note, twenty-five of our active or retired members are known to have died recently. In sixteen cases, the coronavirus was given as the cause of death.
More details will follow in the mail.
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