diff --git a/jjb/mso/mso-libs.yaml b/jjb/mso/mso-libs.yaml
index 28ed86e..99c25d4 100644
--- a/jjb/mso/mso-libs.yaml
+++ b/jjb/mso/mso-libs.yaml
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@
       - 'master':
           branch: 'master'
     mvn-settings: 'mso-settings'
-    maven-deploy-properties:
-      - 'deployAtEnd=true'
+    # due to a strange macro / variable translation problem this needs to be
+    # passed as a string block to properly get the properties correctly defined
+    # in the job
+    maven-deploy-properties: |
+      deployAtEnd=true
     files: '**'
     archive-artifacts: ''