OSA Newsline - November 25, 2002

Early reports of layoffs at the Department of Education have not mentioned Analysts. Actually, although our union was first certified at the old Board of Education, the current membership there is less than a dozen and all are very senior employees.

We are, however, very concerned over the current talk of job losses. At the recent general membership meeting, a motion was passed unanimously in support of Local 375, the union for the architects and engineers. Local 375 is facing job losses at the School Construction Authority. For us, for now, no bad news yet.

Those of our members using GHI for drug coverage are about to have their mail order business provider changed. A new company, Express Scripts, will take over from Merck Medco. One change will be that Walgreens Drug Stores will no longer be a part of the panel. More details as we get them.

Have a happy turkey day!
OSA Newsline - November 18, 2002

The big news this week is Mayor Bloomberg's budget and his talk of austerity and 8000 job cuts. There are no details at present, but the news as it relates to our next contract looks dour.

On our last contract, there has been a bit of good news. The City has agreed to send OSA the outstanding $125 drug reimbursement payment in batches. Our Welfare Fund will thereafter send out the monies as received by agency. Please do not call the union office for details, since details, when they are available, will be on this newsline as fast as we know them.

The biannual elections for the OSA and OSART boards are at hand. Nominations will be accepted in person at the general membership meeting this week and for up to ten days thereafter by mail.

Elections will follow by membership mail ballot. All officers are up for election. The location for the general meeting is 220 East 23rd Street, Suite 709, and the time is this Thursday evening at 6pm sharp. See you at the meeting.
OSA Newsline - November 11, 2002

[Reminder: If you need health plan transfer information, go to the October 14, 2002 newsline]

Last week, OSA representatives participated in a demonstration on behalf of School Construction Authority employees. We also met with Councilmember Jennings on the issue of public hearings on the use of the one-in-three rule on the Associate Staff Analyst list. We are against the misuse of the one-in-three rule by some agencies and Councilmember Jennings is very much in support of our position.

In addition, the general membership mailing was sent out late last week and should be received by you early this week. The contents of the mailing also appear on this website as the November, 2002 edition of "News From OSA." If you do not get the mail by Friday of this week, please call Noreen at 212-686-1229. She will make sure we have the correct address and send you a copy of the mailing.

This mailing is lengthy and covers many topics. Of special importance is the notice of the November general membership meeting and the December holiday party.
OSA Newsline - November 4, 2002

[Reminder: If you need health plan transfer information, go to the October 14, 2002 newsline]

As a union, we do occasionally express opinions as to some of the candidates running, especially if those candidates' actions impact on us. The opinions expressed are generally those formed by the Executive Board.

The gubernatorial race includes three candidates known to New York City labor: Pataki, McCall and Aronowitz. All three candidates are somewhat attractive to differing labor unions. Governor Pataki has acted as a friend of labor recently and as a result has the endorsement of Local 1199/SEIU and the United Federation of Teachers.

Stanley Aronowitz espouses the most labor friendly platform and his candidacy is sincere if not a likely winner. Stanley is a CUNY professor and has received a considerable amount of support on the Green party ticket from the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY.

Carl McCall is also a friend to labor and has a very long and consistent and creditable record working on our behalf. Our Executive Board favors Carl McCall for Governor. Many of us will be voting for him on the Working Families Party ticket (Row H), since that party is supported by both the Communications Workers of America and UNITE, the textile and clothing workers union.

Another race worth noting is the candidacy of Alan Hevesi for State Comptroller. Our union thought very well of Alan when he ran for Mayor, even if we did not endorse him at the time. He handled his defeat with notable grace and charm.

The Organization of Staff Analysts was very quick to endorse him early as a candidate for State Comptroller, and we were one of the few unions to do so. Because the State AFL-CIO unions mostly supported Al's primary opponent, OSA received a public thank you from Alan the day after he won the primary.

It is important to us, as civil servants, with our pension monies invested by the State, to have as State Comptroller a candidate we feel we can trust. We know we can trust Alan Hevesi.

Finally, one local race merits comment in this newsline. OSA supported Liz Krueger a number of years ago when she was first seeking the job as a State Senator. She finally won the race to fill the vacancy created when Roy Goodman stepped down and is now seeking her reelection.

We like Liz and we are surprised by her opponent's absolutely false charges against her. In effect, her opponent has accused Liz of supporting rape. No, she does not and we do support Liz Krueger.

Please be sure to vote on Tuesday.