F--m 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT HOARD Award No. 6524





( System Federation No. 16, Railway Employes'
( Department, A. F. of L. - C. I. 0.
Parties to Dispute: ( (Sheet Metal Workers)




Dispute: Claim of Employes:





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The Second Division of the AdjusT.ment 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 nas jurisdiction over the dispute involved herein.

Parties to said dispuze waived right of appearance at hearing thereon.

This claim is based on an alleged violation of Rule 13 which reads as follows;


Form 1 Award No. 6524
Page 2 Docket No. 6396
2-NSW-SM-' 73
one shift to another to fill vacancy or new job
account being the youngest employee in seniority, or
where a man is assigned to a regular relief job re
quiring the performance of work on different shifts."

There is no dispute as to the facts. Moulder J. C. Jones was changed from the first shift to the third shift on June 14, 1971 and changed back to his regular first shift position on June 21, 1971.

It is the position of the Carrier that the shift change falls under the following provision of Rule 13 (emphasis supplied.



Throughout the handling on the property the Carrier has maintained that while there were junior men on Moulder's roster none was. qualified as a steel pourer. The organization does not speak to the issue of qualifications until its rebuttal. Yet even there we find no positive assertion that the junior men were qualified.

Implicit in the use of the seniority system in assigning jobs is the issue of fitness and ability. Had the issue of the qualifications of the junior men been properly put at issue it would have been encumbent on Carrier to support its use of Claimant. In view of the record, however, we are unable to concur in the organization's claim that the agreement has been violated.

                            A W A R D


        Claim denied.


                            NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMM BOARD $y Order of Second Division


Attest:- C~sty
Ececutive Secretary

Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 18th day of June, 1973.

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