DISPUTE: CLAIM OF EMPLOYES.-That Boiiermakers H. Bottomley, C. Leonovicz, W. Sanderson, and J. Costello, employed at Harmon, N. Y., Engine House, should be paid at the rate of time and one-half for work performed on locomotive 5313 on Sunday, October 28, 1934.
JOINT STATEMENT OF FACTS.-Locomotive 5313 had been out of service at Harmon Engine House since October 3, 1934, for the renewal of sixty (60) scattered flues, which required that the front end had to come apart and about half the units had to come out. In connection therewith the locomotive was given a monthly inspection, including a boiler washout. There were 23 actual hours worked by the boilermakers for which claim is made. Boitermakers Bottomley and Leonoviez were employed on the first trick from 7: 45 A. M. to 3: 4.5 P. M., and Boilermakers Sanderson and Costello on the second trick from 3: 45 P. M. to 11: 45 P. M., in the Harmon Engine House.
POSITION OF EMPLOYES.-On Sunday, October 28, 1934, Boilermaker H. Bottoinley and Helper C. Leonovicz were assigned to perform boiler work on.locomotive 5313 at Harmon Engine House, these men were employed on the day shift and worked their full shift or 8 hours on this locomotive. At the completion of their shift, Boilermaker W. Sanderson and Helper J. N. Costello, who were working the second or following shift, were assigned to complete the boiler work, taking them four hours and three hours, respectively. These four employes were paid straight time for the hours worked.
It is the contention of the employes, that the United States Railroad Labor Board when Decision No. 222 (Docket 475), decisions on rules the organizations and management were unable to agree to, Rule No. 6 was one of these rules, the Labor Board did not contemplate that employes required to perform work under the conditions as mentioned herein, were to be consiclercd as only receiving straight time.
Engine 5313 was at Harmon Engine House 25 days. There was ample time to make the necessary repairs and have engine ready for dicpatchment on a week day. The fact the mans gernent contends that the work was ordinary running repairs has no standing in the case, as any job can be sub-divided to bring it within any category, in this and all other cases of work being done on an engine, the work to be done must be considered as one unit on which the work has not or cannot be done within the time prescribed by the current rules and working agreement.
POSITION OF CARI:IER.-Locomotive 5313 had been out of service since October 3. 1934, for renewal of sixty scattered flues and monthly fn·pecfon work. When the material had been receh-od we had an accumulation of work making it necessary to set back the work on this locomotive until October 25, 7934. The necessary boilermakers' work in connection with the fine rearewals had been completed on Saturday, October 27, 1934, except replacement of the front end, consisting of the diaphragarr plates a ncl all braces for them, the table plate, the dr:itt pt;::e and the 1>:trrel, or front earl, netti-g. which includes the draft pipe netting; ring on the table plate and the bood f"or `vine to draft pipe. Also the application of patch plates around the blow,-er l)ipos rind to close and tighten the smoke box front arid doors. This remaining boilermakers' work was started by the regularly . ssigned frst trick rnnnfi2L, repair forces and completed by the regularly assigned second trick forces. After the locomotive bad been fired up, final inspection was made. All of the work was completed at 9:35 P. M., and the locomotive was dispatched on train No. 65
which was due to leave Harmon at 11: 02 P. M. that same night. The quick dispatchment after the completion and testing of the locomotive in itself should explain the necessity for this work.
It has been the management's position that the completion of the work on this locomotive was essential to the continuous operation of the railroad. In our conferences with the committees, they admitted that the work was essential to the continuous operation, but contended that it was "dead work" and that all dead work performed by running repair forces on a Sunday or holiday should be paid for at the rate of time and one-half. Rule 6 has been cited as justification for their contentions. We can find nothing in Rule 6 which justifies this stand. The rule definitely provides that work performed on Sundays and certain holidays shall be paid for at the rate of time and one-half, except that employes necessary to the operation of power houses, millwright gangs, heat treating plants, train yards, running repair and inspection forces, who are regularly assigned by bulletin to work on Sundays and holidays, will be compensated on the same basis as on week days. The employes who performed the work were regularly assigned by bulletin to work on Sundays and holidays. The work they performed on this particular Sunday on locomotive 5313 was such as is commonly considered "running repairs." In our conferences with the committees they agreed that it was work that the running repair forces perform every day in the week, but contended that they should not have been required to do it on this particular locomotive on Sunday.
The locomotive unquestionably was needed for service on Sunday night; the work performed was only of a nature similar to that regularly performed by regularly assigned employes, and the claim for the payment of time and onehalf to the boilermakers who spent twenty-three man hours in doing this work is without foundation under the rule, as well as equally without merit from the standpoint of equity.
FINDINGS.-The Second Division of the Adjustment Board, upon the whole record and all the evidence, finds that:
The carrier or carriers and the employe or employes involved in this dispute are respectively carrier and employe within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act as approved June 21, 1934.
This Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute involved herein.
The parties to said dispute were given due notice of hearing thereon."Sunday and holiday work will be required only when absolutely essential to the continuous operation of the railroad."
A fair application of the rule would be to work no more men on Sundays and holidays than would be worked on these days in a well-managed terminal, if punitive overtime rates were paid instead of straight time.
Disagreements may arise between men and management over the provisions of this rule, each side contending that certain work may or may not be "absolutely essential to the continuous operation of the railroad", but by applying the above principle most of these disputes can be adjusted.
It is not possible for tluq Division to pass upon detlils of operation from this distance, nor can it determine whether or not a violation of the rule occurred in the instant case. However, if there be any abuse of the privileges allowed by the overtime exemption on Sundays and holidays, as provided in Rule 6, then it is the obligation and duty of management to do everything possible, either through a rearrangement of forces or better planning, to curtail the Sunday and holiday work as much as possible consistent with service requirements. in order to carry out the spirit and intent of the provisions of Mule 6, and this Division directs that a joint survey be made to determine if any abuses exist in violation of the rule.