Ukraine still lives
Our newsline first began to repeat these three words when Russia first attacked Ukraine eight months ago.
We repeated these three words each week as the courageous Ukrainian people defied all expectations and were able to delay and then to halt the aggressor.
Sometimes heroism becomes so expected that it ceases to get notice. This is wrong and at the grievance training class last week it was brought to our attention.
The member was right. So, again, we note, Ukraine still lives.
We had some good news in the our Board of Education and Uniformed Police units received their raises last week. Any member who did not get that money, first ask your payroll department and then call our grievance unit if you need help.
Also the public service student loan forgiveness program is closing out its application period by the end of the month. Many of our members will qualify for such forgiveness. If you are unsure, call the grievance section for help.
Our November membership mailing should go out late this week or early next. We are still seeking a guest speaker for the post-meeting training session. Once we have a speaker in place, we will post it on this website as a part of the agenda for the meeting.
This mailing will also include notice of our Holiday party in December and instructions on how to secure tickets.
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Many members have been called to recent hiring and promotional pools. If that is you, we would like to know about it. Please give the union a call so we can take your name and number. We will probably get back to you for more details if we need them.
The reason for the call to the union is that we would like to keep our records up-to-date, but also because we are able to police these pools from such calls. It does happen that sometimes our members are treated unfairly and, by our keeping track of the pools, we can avoid or remedy such problems.
If you get a notification about an upcoming pool, always please email a copy to Sheila at If you would like to listen to this newsline as an audio file, please click on this link:
Many OSA members will qualify this year for public service loan forgiveness. You might be able to qualify as well.
Because of a special US Department of Education program related to the COVID crisis, 250,000 New Yorkers are eligible to have all of their student loans erased. However, this massive improvement to the 15-year-old Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program is temporary and only lasts until October 31, 2022.
If you have public service work and student debt, you should use the Help Tool you can find at this link: StudentAid.Gov/PSLF to see if you are eligible or you can visit PSLF.NYC to learn more about this opportunity or find technical support.
Also, we posted a lot of information in an attachment to the August OSA Newsletter which you can link to here: PSLF Program Information
This program is separate from the recently announced Biden Administration plan for forgiveness of up to $10,000 in student loan debt that has no public service work component.
Take the time to work through the federal government's help tool and to learn how the program can help you. Many have already had tens of thousands in loan debt forgiven. But don't take too much time. The clock is ticking.
Joan was also a Trustee on the Board of the OSA Welfare Fund and had participated at a meeting of that Fund a few days before her passing.
Joan’s service will be held on Tuesday, October 18th at 11:30am. The location will be Benta’s Funeral Home at 630 St. Nicholas Avenue in Manhattan. For those sending a card it is zip code New York, New York 10030.
Burial will follow the service at Woodlawn Cemetery, 4199 Webster Avenue, Bronx NY.
There will be a repast after the burial at Eastwood Manor, 3371 Eastchester Road in the Bronx.
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OSA Newsline - October 10, 2022 
We were saddened by the loss of Joan Smith last week. Joanie was OSA's Senior Chapter Chairperson for the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development and had been a union activist for decades.
Excellent membership meeting last week with over 200 attending on Zoom. Our guest speaker was Kevin Sullivan of the Health Technical Subcommittee of the Municipal Labor Committee. Kevin told our members the history of that committee going back to the 1940s. It was most interesting and very pertinent to the current Medicare Advantage issue facing our retired brothers and sisters.
We also announced the close of the Health Benefit Award program as of the end of October. Since vaccination against Covid has become a condition of employment for new employees, the incentive aspect of the program is now moot. Members still have the month of October to fill out the forms to claim the benefit if they have not gotten around to it up til now. You may email Megan Wofsy at mwofsy@osaunion.org if you need a copy of the form.
Finally, our yearly seminars are soon approaching. They are: Basic Math, Creative Writing, Public Speaking, Statistics, Grievances & Disciplinary Actions, Non-Fiction Writing, Pensions 101 and Pre-Retirement. To sign up for any of these, just go to the link below, download and complete the coupon and email it to seminars@osauion.org or fax it to 212-686-1231.
OSA Fall Seminar Sign-Up Coupon
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