OSA Newsline - September 21, 2001

The official city leave policy as of September 21, 2001 according to a memorandum from Joe Lhota, Deputy Mayor for Operations, is as follows:

"SUBJECT: Leave Policy for September 11, 2001 and Subsequent Days

The early departure or absence of employees whose work sites are located in the area affected by the attack on the World Trade Center shall be excused, and therefore, not charged to employees' leave balances, starting on September 11, 2001, and continuing until employees are relocated to satellite offices. It is my full expectation that the agencies have relocated all of their employees at this time.

All employees whose work sites are outside the area affected by the attack on the World Trade Center are not covered by this memorandum. Therefore, unexcused absences shall be charged against employees' leave balances."

Members interested in contributing funds to aid in disaster relief can send checks payable to "New York City Central Labor Council Disaster Relief Fund" at the following address:

NYC Central Labor Council Disaster Relief Fund NYC Central Labor Council AFL-CIO 386 Park Avenue South #601 New York NY 10016

OSA Newsline - September 18, 2001

Members interested in contributing funds to aid in disaster relief can send checks payable to "New York City Central Labor Council Disaster Relief Fund" at the following address:

NYC Central Labor Council Disaster Relief Fund NYC Central Labor Council AFL-CIO 386 Park Avenue South #601 New York NY 10016

Members in need of short-term counseling should call Rose or George at the union office (212) 686-1229. You will be referred to a counselor and the matter will be considered confidential.

A week after the attack, most of the central office locations are only now starting to reopen. We have been informed that some City departments are planning to relocate from their offices in the financial district. We have not been able to learn how quickly this will occur.

All of the ordinary business of Labor Relations has been disrupted by the attack, as members would expect.

OSA Newsline - September 12, 2001

The tragedy on September 11th cancelled most activities on that day and will affect our activities over the period before us.

The retiree luncheon, the bargaining session and the political action committee were all cancelled, but we hope to reschedule the bargaining session as soon as possible.

OSA was a rest stop for a number of our members evacuating lower Manhattan on the day of the disaster and a few of our members from Staten Island and New Jersey slept over as well.

Both the Office of Labor Relations and District Council 37 are located a short distance from the World Trade Center and well within the zone for falling debris. We are not sure when access will be open to those areas.

It is a rough time for our city and great praise is due to our fellow civil servants of the emergency services.

Special Emergency OSA Newsline - September 11, 2001

If you need to come to 220 East 23 Street Suite 707 because you can't get home, please feel free to come over, brothers and sisters.

OSA Newsline - September 10, 2001

We are negotiating both formally and informally this week. Our formal negotiations are at the Transit Authority and resume this Wednesday.

Also, the City negotiations are proceeding informally at the same time in light of the City's recent issuance of the Managerial Pay Order. The City has been made aware that we are not willing to let hundreds of our members lose their raise for the year 2000.

The Associate Analyst exam marking process is nearing completion. We may actually have that list out and being used for appointments by late Fall of this year.

Our delegation for the Labor Day Parade was nearly twice as large as last year's and we were moved up to near the start of the parade. It was a lovely day.

Finally, we note with pride the award given Sunday to OSA's executive director Sheila Gorsky. The Civil Service Merit Council recognized Sheila's successful efforts at keeping various agencies honest at their hiring and promotional pools. She has always been a life saver at those sort of pools.