For many postal employees, a Maintenance Craft position represents an opportunity for better pay, hours, increased job security, and a long-term career path. That is why the process of filling Maintenance vacancies is so important.
The APWU negotiated a specific order for filling Maintenance vacancies, outlined in Article 38.8 of the National Agreement and the Joint Contract Interpretation Manual (JCIM), designed to ensure that opportunities are awarded fairly and consistently.
Unfortunately, problems often arise when management reaches the step that requires consideration of employees on the In-Service Register. Across the country, employees have been denied entry into the Maintenance Craft because management cited alleged attendance or safety issues from their current positions.
Does management have the contractual authority to do that? The answer may be found in the bargaining history of our most recent National Agreement.
During negotiations for the 2024–2027 National Agreement, the APWU achieved a significant victory by strengthening the language governing Maintenance Craft selections. Previously, management was only required to “consider” certain transfer requests. The APWU secured language requiring management to “select” qualified employees, substantially reducing management’s ability to rely on subjective reasons to block employee movement into Maintenance positions.
At the same time, the Postal Service proposed language that would have expressly allowed management to reject employees on In-Service Registers based on attendance and safety records. The APWU rejected that proposal. That should tell us something. If management already possessed the authority to deny employees for attendance or safety reasons, there would have been no reason to seek additional contract language. Parties do not negotiate for rights they already have. The Postal Service asked for that authority and did not receive it.
Despite this, management continues in many locations to deny employees Maintenance opportunities using standards that were never negotiated into the National Agreement. Members who are denied placement into the Maintenance Craft should not simply accept management’s decision at face value. The contract language and recent bargaining history raises serious questions about whether such denials are contractually permissible.
The APWU fought hard to expand opportunities for postal workers seeking careers in the Maintenance Craft. When management attempted to gain explicit authority to reject employees based on attendance and safety concerns, your union stood firm and rejected the proposal.
The lesson is straightforward: negotiated rights matter. When management seeks authority at the bargaining table and fails to obtain it, that failure matters. As APWU members, we must remain vigilant in protecting our negotiated rights and ensuring that Maintenance Craft opportunities are awarded according to the contract—not according to standards management unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate.
New Maintenance Exams – Skilled Maintenance Assessment
On June 17, 2025, the Postal Service met with the APWU to discuss their intent to phase out the 955 Maintenance exam and implement a series of new exams in its place. Instead of the Revamped Maintenance Selection System (RMSS), the new system would now be titled Skilled Maintenance
Assessment (SMA) and would include the following exams:
- Exam 961: Level 5 – Building Maintenance Custodians
- Exam 962: Level 7 – Maintenance Mechanic
- Exam 963: Level 9 – Mail Processing Equipment Mechanic
- Exam 964: Level 9 – Building Equipment Mechanic/Area Maintenance Technician
- Exam 965: Level 10/11 – Electronic Technician/ National Support Technician
This process began in August 2023 when the Postal Service conducted voluntary working sessions with employees. In August 2024, the Postal Service began pilot testing the new exams. They deemed the pilot program a success and moved forward with national level discussions. Employees that volunteered to take the new exams described them as more difficult than the 955 exams, but not as difficult as the original exams prior to RMSS.
As this issue went to press, we were still in discussions to negotiate a fair and reasonable settlement.
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