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Maintenance Division

Automated Work Assignments

In a March 7, 2007, memo to local presidents and Maintenance Craft directors [PDF], Maintenance Division national officers asked locals to initiate grievances over contract violations that occur as a result of the Postal Service’s refusal to recognize certain mail processing equipment as automated mail processing equipment.  

Grievances should be filed if local management:

  • Assigns Level 6 Maintenance Mechanics [PDF] to perform maintenance tasks outside their job description;

  • Assigns Level 8 MPE Mechanics [PDF] to use a computer as a menu-driven device to determine the operational status of the equipment and its electro/mechanical components; isolate mechanical and/or electrical malfunctions and verify the results of corrective actions; or

  • Fails to assign 80 percent of maintenance work hours associated with automated equipment to Electronic Technicians.

The failure of the USPS to acknowledge that certain machinery is automated results in a reduction of work hours and duty assignments for Electronic Technicians [PDF] and Level 8 Mail Processing Equipment Mechanics. It also results in the assignment of work to improper occupational groups, in violation of Articles 7 and 25 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The equipment in question includes the SSIU (Singulate Scan Induction Unit) and the APPS (Automated Parcel Processing System), among others. The union contends that mail processing equipment that reads addresses or bar codes and sorts mail for delivery or transportation to another office — including parcels, sacks, trays, etc. — qualifies as “automated” mail processing equipment.

Maintenance Division officers initiated a national-level dispute May 18, 2004, protesting the Postal Service’s refusal to recognize mail processing equipment as automated mail processing equipment.  

[Step 4 Agreement (1998) on Automated Processing Equipment - PDF]

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