The Organization of Staff Analysts (OSA) is one of the largest independent public sector unions. Its history provides insights into municipal politics and the ways that various city administrations have reacted to attempts by civil servants to organize on their own behalf. The OSA records also illustrate the competition among public sector unions for the right to represent this group of city employees; the approaches toward self-organization eventually undertaken by the group; and the internal politics of an organization whose politically aware membership has been constantly subject to the capricious nature of urban politics.

The Organization of Staff Analysts sought to represent employees within the series of "staff analysts,"a category that had been "broad-banded" to include 88 separate titles, including those of Personnel Examiner, Quantitative Analysts, etc. With this action, the entire category became eligible for representation, under the provisions of the New York State Labor Law, or, as it is commonly referred to, the Taylor Law.

In 1970, twelve employees of the New York City Department of Personnel joined together to form the Committee of Personnel Examiners. They had three goals: that each member would help another whenever possible, to achieve permanent status for all members, and finally to achieve collective bargaining rights for all members. The approach was to offer a course to individuals in preparation for the civil service test to be administered for staff analyst positions. Membership dues were a requirement for taking the course. As the Committee expanded to include more job titles it became necessary for the group to find a new name and thus the Organization of Staff Analysts was born. By1978, the OSA had 300 members. Unionization was the next logical step.

The leaders of the organizing effort approached different unions to determine the choice for affiliation. The first union to take the OSA under its wing was the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237, led by Barry Feinstein. At the same time, the Social Service Employees Union (SSEU), Local 371 of District Council 37 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees initiated an organizing drive. Other unions interested in representing the Staff Analysts included the Accountants, Local 1407 and the Civil Service Technical Guild, Local 375, affiliated with DC 37, and Local 1180 of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Ultimately Teamsters Local 237and the SSEU fought the battle for representation.

The major organizing drive continued between 1978 and 1982. The Teamsters were the only union to offer what the OSA was seeking, that is, a separate chapter identity, one that would preserve the homogeneity of the unit, as well as keeping the leadership intact. During the organizing drive, both Locals 371 and 237 committed full-time organizers to the effort. In 1978, Robert Croghan, who was serving as Local 371's Field Organizer for the Bronx, was given this assignment by his Executive Board. Despite expenditures of considerable amounts of energy and money, no election was called by the city's Office of Collective Bargaining. Determinations within this office were used as a delaying tactic to forestall actual representation. An agreement that would have provided for the various competing unions to accrete some OSA members, thereby providing a partial victory, was unacceptable to the Teamsters because, as a blue-collar union, Local 237 did not have the standing to benefit from such accretion.

In 1982 the SSEU (Local 371) abandoned its organizing campaign. In 1983 the OSA moved out of an office provided by Local 237 and became effectively independent. Robert Croghan was expelled from the OSA, challenged that action through a petition drive, and eventually scored a substantial victory in against incumbent Susan Millgrav in an election for local chairperson. By 1984 the OSA had obtained office space and hired its own organizers. In 1985 it succeeded in becoming the official collective bargaining agent for Analysts in the Board of Education, expanding its membership to 600. Since then, OSA has won collective bargaining rights for previously unorganized New York City employees in all major city agencies, in the Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), and in the Transit Authority (TA).

During the Croghan administration the union has scored a number of organizing victories, the most significant being in 1991 when the longest running dispute with the Office of Collective Bargaining was resolved. With its jurisdiction substantially expanded, the union's membership stood at 3,500 by 1992. From the time of the Dinkins administration the union has steadfastly fought lay-offs, defended the rights of provisional employees, offered specialized training courses for prospective employees (some provided via cable tv), and maintained pressure on the city to allow new units of professional staff to become eligible for OSA membership, always supporting its efforts through extensive research into job titles and duties.

Today OSA is a member of, and bargains collectively through, the Municipal Labor Committee, a coalition of unions representing the majority of New York City employees. An elected nine-member Executive Board governs OSA. Also part of the OSA "family" is the Organization of Staff Analysts and Related Titles (OSART), an affiliated professional organization for City employees who are excluded from full membership by Taylor Law provisions but who wish to participate in all service-related aspects of the union other than collective bargaining.

The OSA describes Analysts as individuals who are employed to break complex matters down into their component parts to enable greater understanding. In the broader world, there are psychoanalysts, chemical analysts, financial analysts, and terrorism analysts. In New York City government, OSA members are analysts who are permanent members of agency staffs.

The duties of the typical Analyst may change frequently with the needs of his/her agency. Analysts for the Traffic Department are in the street checking traffic flow. Analysts in Welfare Centers verify work done and design improved systems. Analysts edit agency publications, approve contracts, do audits, write procedures and do staff training. They also design forms, do personnel work, write grant proposals, design computer systems and devise time-keeping systems. They study infectious diseases for the Department of Health, arrest reports for the Police Department, community development for the Department of City Planning, air quality for the Department of Environmental Protection and budget matters for the Financial Information Services Agency.