Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD Award No. 8679
SECOND DIVISION Docket No.
8430
2-B&O-CM-'81
The Second Division consisted of the regular members and in
addition Referee Abraham Weiss when award was rendered.
( Brotherhood Railway Carmen of the United States
Parties to Dispute: ( and Canada
(
( Baltimore and Ohio Railway Company
Dispute: Claim of Employes:
No. 1. That under the terms of the controlling Agreement the Carrier failed
to call sufficient number of members of the "assigned wrecking crew"
out of Willard, Ohio to a derailment at Bremen, Indiana, on the dates
of April 7, 1978 and April 8, 1978, and utilized the services of two
outside contractors and equipment and fifteen (15) outside contractor's
groundmen.
No. 2. That the claimants herein are relief members of the "assigned wrecking
crew", and were not called to this derailment, and are in fact, recognized
under the December 4, 1975 Agreement, Article VII, as assigned wrecking
crew members.
No.
3.
That the Carrier be ordered to compensate the following carmen for
their losses arising account of this violation: Carmen, P. W. Long
and G. Bechtel, six hours at the time and one-half rate on April 7,
1978 and sixteen hours at the time and one-half rate on April 8, 1978,
P. R. Mahl and C. L. Bittner, twelve hours at the time and one-half
rate on April 7, 1978 and sixteen hours at the time and one-half rate
on April
8,
1978.
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, 1931+.
This Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute
involved herein.
Parties to said dispute waived right of appearance at hearing thereon.
This case involves a claim by four relief crew members of the "assigned
wrecking crew" for failure to be called as assigned wrecking crew members under
Article VII of the December 1+, 1975 Agreement, in connection with a derailment
at Bremen, Indiana.
The record discloses that Carrier used two outside contractors and
15
groundmen, together with 6 of the 10 men comprising the "assigned wrecking crew'"'
Form 1 Award No.
8679
Page 2 Docket No.
8430
2-B&O-CM-'81
from Willard, Ohio. The remaining 4 members of the assigned wrecking crew were not
available at the time of the call.
The Organization contends that the four relief crew members should have been
called to fill the vacancies in the assigned wrecking crew so as to meet the
demands of the work involved in the derailment instead of allowing the outside
contractor's groinmdmen to perform ground work at the wreck. The Organization
asserts that relief "assigned wrecking crew" members are recognized as "assigned
wrecking crew" members under Article VII of the December 4,
1975,
Agreement, which
reads in pertinent part:
"The contractor's ground forces will not be used, however,
unless all available and reasonably accessible members of
the assigned wrecking crew are called. "
The Organization maintains that the named relief crew members were available
and reasonable accessible, but were not called.
Carrier submits that only
6
of the 10 assigned wrecking crew members
responded to the call; two others refused the call; one did not answer the telephone;
and one was on vacation. Carrier asserts that it complied with Article VII in
that it did call all available and reasonably accessible members of the assigned
wrecking crew; that relief crew members are not members of the assigned wrecking
crew within the meaning and intent of Article VII or the Shop Crafts' Rules 141
and 142; and that no Agreement rule requires that relief crew members be called
in the absence of members of the assigned wrecking crew. Carrier cites Second
Division Awards
6497
and
6636
in support of this last point.
Rule
141
states in pertinent part:
"Regularly assigned wrecking crews will be composed of
Carmen "
Rule
1s+G
states in pertinent part:
"a sufficient number of the regularly assigned crew w
X)EX11
Carrier points out that in order for an employee to be a member of an assigned
wrecking crew (the language used in Article VII), he must be "regularly" assigned
in accordance with Rules 141 and 142 of the Shop Crafts' Agreement.
The "assigned wrecking crew" has a given number of designated individuals.
Under Article VII, as this Board has repeatedly found, "all available and readily
accessible members of the assigned wrecking crew" must be called before Carrier main
use a contractor's grid forces in connection with a wreck or derailment. In
the instant case, Carrier used all six of the assigned wrecking crew members
available; the remaining four members were not available.
We find no requirement in the Agreement rules that Carrier must call members
of the relief crew when any of the designated members of the "assigned wrecking
crew" are not available or do not make themselves available when called for
wrecking service.
Form 1
Page
3
Award No.
8679
Docket No.
8430
2-B&O-CM-'81
Article VII refers to "the Carrier's assigned wrecking crew"; i.e., named
employees. Carrier's obligation is to call all such assigned wrecking crew
members who are "available and reasonably accessible" before using a contractor's
ground forces. Such obligation, in our view, does not extend to relief wrecking
crew carmen, inasmuch as they are not designated, under the Agreement, as =ambers
of "Carrier's assigned wrecking crew". Accordingly, we shall deny the claim.
A WAR D
Claim denied.
Attest: Executive Secretary
National Railroad Adjustment Board
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Second Division
:By
R semarie Brasch - Administrative Assistant
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 15th day of April,
1981.