OSA Newsline - November 24, 2003 The past couple of weeks have been busy. There are reorganizations at the Housing Authority, the Department of Health and Mental Health and the HHC. In all cases, the union has been at the meetings and no jobs appear to be in danger. Change itself can be unsettling, but the agencies have been somewhat reassuring. Our luck on the negotiation front for contract matters is running consistent, consistently slow that is. Mediation on our School Safety and Traffic Enforcement contracts broke down last Friday and impasse seems certain. There has been no word back from the City on our 1% equity since September. Health benefit negotiations, while difficult, do at last seem to be showing some progress. Negotiations on that issue have involved OSA representatives two or three days each week recently and another meeting is set for today at 10am. A mailing is due out late this week and will provide a more detailed report on negotiations so far. The same information will be on this website as the November, 2003 "News From OSA." On a happier note, the mailing also encloses invitations to both the Holiday party and a special Political Action Committee meeting. Since the last membership meeting was itself held late in October, members voted to skip the meeting normally set for November. Happy Turkey Day on Thursday.

OSA Newsline - November 10, 2003 The last of the drug rider reimbursement checks was mailed out late last week. If you believe you are due a check, and it does not arrive by Monday, November 17th, you will need to appeal. The only persons due to be sent a check were those members who were: first, covered by OSA on January 1, 2001 and/or July 1, 2001; and second, paying an optional drug rider on those dates. Administrative Staff Analysts (Non-Managerial) were unionized as of January 6, 2001 and, thus, are not due the payment for January 1st. The January amount was $50 and the July amount was $75. Our Transit Authority members were not affected since drugs are a part of their basic health coverage. If you believe you were eligible for payment or for a different amount than you received, you can call the union office after November 17th and you will be sent an appeal form. We had very welcome news last week. In response to union pressure, the Sanitation Department finally began to move the Associate Staff Analyst list. The results, at present, are that eighteen out of twenty of the candidates have been appointed thus far. Thanks and recognition are due Joan Kiok, OSA attorney, Mike Schady, assistant to the executive director, and especially to executive director Sheila Gorsky. For over twenty years, Sheila Gorsky has been involved in forcing the City to move Civil Service lists. As far back as the year 1984, the team of Sheila Gorsky and Joan Kiok oversaw the forced promotion of 99 Associate Staff Analysts on a single summer day. Now we will focus on the Department of Transportation and a few other agencies currently abusing the 1-in-3 rule.

OSA Newsline - November 3, 2003 The big news this week is election day. Mayor Bloomberg has now sent out numerous pieces of junk mail urging voters to support his propositions. He, himself, is never mentioned which is a bit deceitful since he is financing the entire campaign. Members are urged to remember to go out on election day and vote NO on propositions 3, 4 and 5. We don't have his money, but we do have our right to vote. The drug reimbursement checks are going out on a schedule with most due out this Monday and the rest hopefully by Wednesday.