Filling Maintenance Vacancies

Article 38 Section 4.A.1 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement requires the USPS to post a Notice of Intent for a period of seven days when a vacancy or newly-established position is to be filled. Section 4.A.2 requires that all vacant Maintenance Craft duty assignments be posted within 30 days of when the vacancy occurs.

When local management fails to post a vacant position within 30 days, it must post a notice explaining the operational justification for reverting the position. In addition, it must notify the local union president in writing of the reason for withholding the vacant position. Further, if local management intends to discontinue the process of filling vacancies, it must state so on the posted Notice of Intent that a particular duty assignment will be changed or reverted.

All offices are required to create a Preferred Assignment Register (PAR) as well as a Promotion Eligibility Register (PER). The PAR must list all duty assignments within the facility, while the PER must be established for each occupational group within the office.

Vacant preferred duty assignments are posted for bid on a Notice of Intent. The vacant positions, along with any other duty assignments that may become vacant as a result of the posting, are filled from the Preferred Duty Assignment Register and/or Promotion Register. During the posting of a vacant position, employees may change their Preferred Duty Assignment Selection Forms to include or exclude the position as a desired position prior to the ending of the Notice of Intent. Employees may also modify their Preferred Duty Assignment Selection Forms in accordance with Article 38 Section 5.A.6. Employees may also temporarily withdraw their consideration from a current Notice of Intent by using the Preferred Duty Assignment - Withdraw from Current Notice of Intent form. Likewise, an employee may temporarily withdraw their consideration for promotion using the Promotion Rejection Form Maintenance Craft Promotion Eligibility Register Only form.

Maintenance craft duty assignments are filled in accordance with the Order for Filling Vacant Maintenance Positions in Article 38 of the 2022 Joint Contract Interpretation Manual. (See pages 283-284).