SYSTEM FEDERATION NO. 91, RAILWAY EMPLOYES'
DEPARTMENT, A. F. OF L. (Firemen and Oilers)
DISPUTE: CLAIM OF EMPLOYES: 1-That the current agreement was violated when the carrier assigned an extra Class "B" Laborer to fire the stationary boiler at the passenger station from 11:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. on May 25, 26, 27 and 28, 1949.
2-That accordingly the carrier be ordered to additionally compensate Stationary Fireman Ed. Ellison in the amount of eight (8) hours at the time and one-half rate on each of the aforesaid dates.
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS: The carrier maintains a power plant at the passenger station, Corbin, Kentucky, which is operated around the clock, with a stationary fireman assigned on each shift during the winter months, but as the weather moderates in the spring the operations are accordingly reduced to the status of only operating the third shift, and finally the position of the stationary fireman on that shift was abolished.
The unseasonable weather conditions, however, necessitated the carrier operating this power plant on the third shift, from 11:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M., from May 25 to 28, 1949, inclusive, and in lieu of using a stationary fireman, the carrier assigned an extra Class B laborer to fire the stationary boiler in order to supply the passenger station with heat.
Stationary Fireman Ed. Ellison, hereinafter referred to as the claimant, who last fired the stationary boiler on the third shift until it was abolished when he was thereafter employed as stationary fireman on the 7:00 A.M. to 3:,00 P.M. shift in the roundhouse, was available to fire the stationary boiler on the third shift at the passenger station on the aforementioned dates.
The stationary fireman at the passenger station and the stationary fireman at the roundhouse are carried on the same seniority roster.
The agreement, effective June 1, 1942, as amended November 1, 1946, is controlling.
POSITION OF EMPLOYES: It is submitted that there is nothing in Rule 1., Scope A, or elsewhere in the current agreement which authorizes the carrier to use an extra Class B laborer as stationary fireman on the dates
Inclement weather created the need for a stationary fireman at the passenger station on May 25, 26, 27, and 28, 1949, thus creating a temporary vacancy within the meaning of Rule 18(a). Mr. Ellison, having a regular assignment as stationary fireman, had no agreement rights to this vacancy, and accordingly Isaac Monhollen, a qualified extra man working in a lower classification, was assigned to it.
In further support of our position we call the Board's attention to the provisions of Rule 11 of the effective agreement, from which we quote:
Knowing that the position would last but a short time, there was no need to bulletin it, consequently it was considered as a temporary vacancy, bringing it within the provisions of Rule 18(a).
It was not necessary that the position of stationary fireman be abolished by bulletin notice for the reason that it was not a regularly assigned position.
The foregoing further establishes the fact that the carrier acted within its rights in using Mr. Monhollen on the position in question, in view of which protest of the employes should be denied.
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.
As weather moderated, the first, second and third seasonal shifts of stationary fireman at the passenger station were respectively cut off one at a time. Claimant as first shift man with seniority in Class A displaced the other occupants in turn. When the third shift was cut off, he displaced the 13 8 7-4 35
first shift man at the roundhouse, where stationary firemen are carried on the same seniority roster as at the passenger station. Thereafter inclement weather made it necessary to temporarily place a stationary fireman back on third shift at the passenger station. In that situation, a Class B Laborer, who had no seniority in Class A as a stationary fireman, was assigned to and performed the work May 25, 1949, to May 28, 1949, inclusive.
The Division concludes that the assignment was a temporary position within the purview of Rule 18 (a), but it was not filled by a senior qualified extra man in Class B having seniority as a stationary fireman in Class A, and it was not necessary to fill it with a Class B laborer having no such seniority because claimant was available and should have been called. Not having performed the work, however, he is entitled to be paid only the pro rata rate of the position for four days' work.
The claimant is a regularly assigned first shift stationary fireman and under these findings this carrier is required to work this regularly assigned first shift stationary fireman an additional eight hours on a temporary position of third shift stationary fireman under penalty payment because no extra men with Class A seniority were available; this is not supported by the rule of the controlling agreement.