The final days of helping our members with the Administrative Community Relations Specialist exam are upon us. If you need help on the E&E exam, call George at the union office. The close of filing is soon so help is available only this Monday and Tuesday evenings.

No further nominations were received subsequent to the general membership meeting, so congratulations are due to all of those nominated for the OSA and OSART boards a week and a half ago. There will be an official installation of officers at our January membership meeting.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Late in the day on Monday, November 21st, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services informed the union that it will be extending the closing date for filing for the Administrative Community Relations Specialist E&E exam to November 30, 2016.

As a result, the union intends to offer assistance with filing for the exam on Monday and Tuesday, November 28th and 29th after work. If you have not yet filed and plan to we encourage you to call the union at 212-686-1229 to schedule an appointment for assistance.

A sad note occurred last week with the passing of Gerald Gerard Pierre Joseph Landry or, as we all knew him, Gerry Landry. Gerry Landry worked for the Social Service Employees Union starting in the early 1960s. He trained two generations of union delegates in how to handle members’ problems that would arise on their work locations. Gerry was also deeply admired by his coworkers at the union office – and by management as well.

Gerry was a tireless worker at the Grievance Office, working very commonly from 9am to 8pm or later, five days a week. He also took home work on the weekends as well. He would never accept overtime pay during his two score years of service. Later, once he had retired, Gerry continued to carry his caseload, since members would call him at home, their faith in him so absolute.

Gerry is survived by his daughters and grandsons. Daughters Anne and Jane, in the eulogy, ended with the statement that Gerry is not really gone, he is in their hearts, guiding their way. This statement is equally true for a great many union activists for whom Gerry was our perfect model.

Our union representatives attended the DCAS-sponsored citywide open competitive hiring pool for Administrative Staff Analyst last week. The pool took two days and covered list numbers from the start up to 1005.

The pool went very smoothly which is a credit to the staff and leadership at DCAS. Candidates who were hired should call Elba or Danielle at the union office to request and receive a welcome membership package.

Thanks are due to the staff and volunteers who have already helped over 100 of our members with the ACRS exam. If any of our members filed and were disqualified, call Sheila at the union office to learn how to appeal.

The November general membership meeting was well attended and nominations of officers for OSA and OSART were received and stay open for ten days. Also, union attorney, Gabrielle Martinez reported our success in completing a contract for a four day week for some of our members at NYC H+H.

Busy week to come. Members interested in gaining permanent civil service status are taking the Administrative Community Relations Specialist Exam and we are providing assistance. Help was offered last week but only a few members came. We had more trained helpers than candidates. This week the numbers may be reversed.

If you are planning on coming to OSA for help on the E&E exam, call George for a reservation so we can schedule to avoid having too many to properly help.

Also this week we are assisting those members who filed their E&E exam for ACRS in a hurry and have already been disqualified. We will help on their appeals but, again, this is time limited. Please call George at the union office.

On Monday and Tuesday, DCAS is holding a citywide hiring pool with 500 candidates called in per day. OSA will be there.

At 12 noon on Monday, our union’s leadership will be meeting with the City’s Labor Relations office on the issue of the correct amount due to newly appointed Administrative Staff Analysts. We have received widespread complaints of confusion by management in this area.

Finally, our November membership meeting will be held starting at 6:15pm this Thursday evening. As is now customary, food will be provided starting at 5:30pm. The meeting is our nominations meeting, as well as a regular business meeting.

This evening, we begin assisting our members who are filing for the Administrative Community Relations Specialist exam. We will be busy with this task for the next two weeks, but not on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, we vote. Hopefully, we will all vote. It would be the best ting to happen during this entire election period if the American public came through and voted more heavily than ever before.

On Wednesday, we will go back to assisting our members on the ACRS exam.