The Second Division consisted of the regular members and in
addition Referee Mortimer Stone when the award was rendered.
SYSTEM FEDERATION NO. 101, RAILWAY EMPLOYES'
DEPARTMENT, A. F. of L.-C. I. O. (Electrical Workers)
DISPUTE: CLAIM OF EMPLOYES: 1. That the provisions of the current agreement are being violated when other than an Electrical Worker (Crane Operator) is assigned to operate an electric crane at the Steel Car Plant, St. Cloud, Minnesota.
2. That accordingly the Carrier be ordered to compensate the senior furloughed crane operator at the applicable rate for all time that other than crane operators are used in violation of the agreement commencing August 14, 1958, and continuing until said violation is discontinued.
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS: Prior to August 14, 1958, all electric cranes at the steel car plant of the Great Northern Railway Company, hereinafter referred to as the carrier, located at St. Cloud, Minnesota, were operated by crane operators of the electrical workers' craft.
Prior to this date the electric cranes operated on a track running the length of the building and extending outside the east end of the shop building for a distance of approximately 50 feet. Shortly before August 14, 1958, the crane track or rails and the trolley feeder wires were extended approximately 150 feet further out from the east end of the building and an additional crane was installed to operate on the track both outside and inside the building. The new crane was a 5 ton Whiting crane, similar to the other electric cranes operating in this shop building.
The electric cranes handled material and parts used in connection with building, rebuilding and repairing freight cars of the carrier. Material and parts were unloaded and stockpiled outside the shop by the stores department, within reach of the electric cranes, and, as needed, the material and; parts were picked up by the electric cranes, carried into the shop building and delivered to the carmen working on the freight cars.
On or about August 14, 1958, the carrier assigned an employe of the stores department to operate the newly installed 5 ton Whiting electric crane. This crane is now being used to perform the work outlined in the above
The operation of the store department crane in the instant case rightfully belongs to store department employes per Rule 1(e) of the clerks' schedule rules agreement, which reads as follows:
In light of Rule 1(e) of the clerks' schedule rules agreement, quoted above, carrier was contractually obligated to assign a store department employe to the store department crane in the instant case; therefore, the so-called scope rule which appears on the cover of the shop crafts schedule agreement No. 3 has no application whatsoever in the instant case and carrier did not violate same in the instant case since store department employes, by rule and practice, have always operated cranes which have been assigned to the store department.
CONCLUSION: Carrier emphatically asserts that the instant claim of the employes is completely lacking in merit for reason that: the crane in case belongs to, or has been assigned, to, the store department at St. Cloud; store department employes use this crane in handling store department materials from cars to a storage area where stock piles of car-building materials are maintained by the store department; the. operation of this store department crane rightfully belongs to store department employes per Rule 1(e) of the clerks' schedule rules agreement; Rule 78 of the shop crafts schedule does not provide that all electric cranes on this property will be operated by crane operators who are represented by the electrical workers' organization; the so-called scope rule which appears on the cover of shop crafts schedule No. 3 has no application in the instant case since store department employes by rule and practice have always operated cranes, regardless of type, which have been assigned to the store department.
For the reasons as outlined herein, this claim of the employes must 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. 3778 ---7
Prior to 1958 a five-ton overhead electric crane had been installed in the steel car shop, which operated on a track running the length of the building and extending some 175 feet outside the shop and over the storage area. This crane was used to make delivery of car parts and materials from stock piles outside the shop to fabrication points in the shop where needed and also to progress the partly fabricated cars from one machine to another along the assembly line in the shop. This crane was operated by a crane operator under the electrical workers' agreement.
Outside the car shop there was a mobile locomotive crane operated by an employe of the Store Department and used and controlled by that department in its work to unload car-building materials from freight cars and stock pile them in the area outside the car shop where they could be picked up by the Mechanical Department electric crane for use inside the shop, and also to stock pile partially built freight cars which were brought out from the shop to the storage area by the Mechanical Department electric crane.
In 1958 the overhead track used by the electric crane was extended out over the storage area so as to make a runway of some 425 feet outside the shop, and a second electric crane was installed on it to replace the mobile electric crane theretofore used by the Store Department employes.
So far as appears the operation of the electric crane does not require any skill or knowledge peculiar to electricians or included in their "Classification of Work" rule.
It is the position of the employes that the operation of this second electric crane is properly the work of a Mechanical Department crane operator by virtue of paragraphs (a) and (b) of their Rule 78: