| OSA Newsline -- November 25, 2019
At a well-attended membership meeting this past Thursday, members heard about last Tuesday's bargaining session.
As predicted on an earlier newsline, the City, after a six month hiatus in meetings, brought up their insistence on resolving the need for change in the Admin entry level salaries.
We do agree that the Managerial Pay Plan is totally insane, with Administrative Analysts making far less than brand new Associate Staff Analysts.
We did point out, at the table, a better system - the old Career and Salary Plan. That plan would give a new Administrative Staff Analyst ten percent more than the minimum for Associate Staff Analyst.
That plan was in place until Ed Koch deliberately froze managerial minimums for four contracts in a row.
So, yes, we want it changed back to the same pay plan that existed before, but no, we are not going to pay for it. We got nothing out of Ed Koch's attack on civil service managers and, if the result looks insane, it is, but it is the City's fault not ours.
We have agreed to meet further on this and anything else the City thinks is important that turned up during the six month hiatus in bargaining, but it does seem clear that the City is not in a hurry to settle.
We will keep on going to the meetings, as we are supposed to.
And we wish everyone a Happy Turkey Day.
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On Thursday night last week, our Executive Board met to discuss this week's negotiations and, on Friday, our legal team met on the same topic.
This Tuesday, we will be meeting with the City on contract negotiations for the first time since last Spring. We are hoping for progress, but caution is wise. The City has not shown much anxiety to settle until now.
Full details of these talks will be reported at Thursday's general membership meeting.
The other bit of news that must be repeated is to urge those of our members newly hired after July 1st to be aware of the health plan re-opener that will enable participants in the HIP HMO to switch to a far less expensive drug rider option.
There were details on this in the recent mailing and they are on this website as well.
Hope to see you at the meeting.
If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:
The union office is closed on Monday for Veterans Day.
There are no negotiations this week. Those talks are set for Tuesday, the 19th.
Even so, we are busy, both with our lawyers and the negotiating team. For example, the City has emphasized that they want to address the proper minimum salaries for our Administrative level titles.
We were perfectly willing to put that issue off until all of the unions now representing Administrative level employees were acting in concert. The City seems to be interested now, so we have been crafting demands that make sense to us.
So, this past week, and during the week to come, we will be forming a consensus and will bring it to the table on the 19th.
None of this is exciting work nor do we know how serious the City is, but we will find out on the 19th. At least we are meeting at last and that's a good thing.
Also, please be aware of this month's health plan re-opener. If you are interested in switching to a lower cost drug rider than the current HIP HMO rider, now is the period for doing so. Check our mailing or the November 2019 Newsletter on this site for details.
If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:
A mailing is due out this week with lots of news, but one item deserves extra attention.
Members who are a part of the HIP HMO program have a chance to lower the very high drug rider costs of that program through a special November health plan re-opener. This applies to anyone currently enrolled in the HIP HMO plan, especially those hired after July 1st of this year who were required to enroll in that plan for their first year of service.
Check the November 2019 News From OSA for information about this new option. We provide links to instructions on how to lower those costs by thousands of dollars a year.
The information is in the letter we sent out and on this website, but not everyone reads either one.
Since you do read the newsline, please reach out to your co-workers to tell them to check this out in the November 2019 News From OSA.
Beyond that, please do remember to vote on Election Day. The union office, like City agencies will be closed that day.
If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:
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