Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD Award No. 10995
SECOND DIVISION Docket No. 10694
2-S00-CM-'86
The Second Division consisted of the regular members and in
addition Referee Hyman Cohen when award was rendered.
(Brotherhood Railway Carmen of the United States
( and Canada
Parties to Dispute:
(Soo Line Railroad Company
Dispute: Claim of Employes:
1. That under the current agreement, the Soo Line R. R. Co. is in
violation of Rules 10, 27, 94, 98, when on January 18, 19, 20, 1983, the Soo
Line R. R. Co. procured the services of an outside contractor's mobile crane
and operator, to assist the Shoreham Shops assigned wreckcrew groundmen to
clean up and load wreck cars from previous derailments at Bowlus and Genola,
MN.
2. That accordingly, the Soo Line R.R. Co. be ordered to pay Carman
W. Fish, Shoreham Shops assigned wrecker engineer, 24 hours straight time Carmen's rate of pay, for lost of compensated pay, for work that was performed by
the outside contractors operator employee.
3. Also pay for 13 1/2 hours at time and one-half Carmen's rate of
pay, to claim made by the assigned wrecking crew members, for 13 1/2 hours of
waiting time in a separate claim working the same derailments in this dispute,
as to their claim of being ordered to tie up at 5:30 P.M. after completing
clean up and loading of wreck cars at Bowlus, MN. on January 19, 1983 and
ordered to stay at the motel at Little Falls for the nite and ordered to wait
and be ready to travel at 7:00 A.M. January 20, 1983 to another derailment
site at Genola, MN.
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 employes 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.
Parties to said dispute waived right of appearance at hearing thereon.
Form 1 Award No. 10995
Page 2 Docket No. 10694
2-S00-CM-'86
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The Claimant is employed by the Carrier as a Carman at its Shoreham
Shops, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Derailments occurred at Bowlus on November
26, 1982 and at Genola on November 30, 1982. On January 18, 19 and 20, 1983,
at Bowlus the Carrier utilized an outside Contractor with two (2) mobile
cranes and one (1) front end loader and four (4) Shoreham Carmen as Ground
Crew to load the wrecked car bodies onto flat cars and to clean up the site.
Claimant, William G. Fish, is by bulletin, the assigned Wrecker
Engineer on the Shoreham Shops Wrecking Crew. He was called to the
derailment, but refused to go because he would have to work as a Groundman.
When the assigned crew completed their assignment of clean up, tying
down and blocking freight cars at Bowlus, they were ordered "to tie up at 5:30
P.M. on January 19, 1983" and they were lodged at Little Falls. They were
then required to report to the next derailment site at Genola, at 7:00 A.M.
By procuring the services of an outside Contractor to assist the
assigned Wreck Crew Groundmen to clean up and load wrecked cars at the
derailment sites located at Bowlus and Genola, Minnesota, the Organization
contends that the Carrier violated various Rules of the Agreement, among which
are the following:
Rule 98, in relevant part, provides as follows:
"*
* 3. In case of emergency, should the Carrier
use the equipment of a contractor, (with or without
operators) a sufficient number of qualified carmen
will be used as follows:
(a) If a regularly assigned wrecking crew is located at a point nearest to the scene of the wreck,
a sufficient number of the regularly assigned
wrecking crew will be called to work with the contractor as groundmen. If, after the Carrier has
assigned all its regularly assigned wrecking crew
members and additional groundmen are needed,
additional carmen from any location determined by
the Carrier, will be called and used as additional
groundmen.
(b) If at the point nearest the scene of a wreck
the Carrier does not have a regularly assigned
wrecking crew, but has carmen employed, the Carrier
may dispatch a sufficient number of qualified
carmen from that point in lieu of calling a
wrecking crew. If a sufficient number of carmen
cannot be obtained for groundmen, consistent with
service requirements, carmen from other points will
be used.
Form 1 Award No. 10995
Page 3 Docket No. 10694
2-S00-CM-'86
5. When the Carrier elects to call a contractor
for any wreck, it is understood that the necessary
wrecking crews and/or carmen, as nearly as pos
sible, will be called so as to arrive at the wreck
at about the same time as the contractor's crews.
After carefully examining the record, the Board concludes that before
the terms of Rule 98, Paragraph 5 can be applied, there must be an emergency,
as required in Rule 98, Paragraph 3. Paragraph 5 sets forth the understanding
between the parties with regard to calling "the necessary wrecking crews anal/
or carmen" so that they will be able "to arrive at the wreck at about the same
time as the contractor's crews" should the Carrier elect to call a Contractor.
However, Paragraph 3 is contingent upon both the existence of an emergency and
"should the Carrier use the equipment of a contractor." If the two (2)
criteria are met, Paragraph 3 sets forth the manner in which a sufficient number of qualified Carmen will be used if the Carrier has a regularly assigned
Wrecking Crew that is located at a point nearest to the scene of the wreck and
where it does not have a regularly assigned Wrecking Crew at a point nearest
the scene of the wreck.
The Carrier does not claim that an emergency existed on the various
dates in January, 1983 when the clean up of the derailment occurred. Indeed
the derailments which led to the clean up took place in November, 1982, two
(2) months before the clean up took place. As a result it cannot reasonably
be claimed that an emergency existed in January, 1983.
If the terms of Paragraph 5 were to govern the instant fact situation, it would render the terms of Paragraph 3 superfluous. The Board cannot
conclude that the terms of Paragraph 3 contain an idle collection of words.
Moreover, there is no support in the record for the Carrier to utilize the
Contractor's equipment any time it desires without violating Rule 98, Paragraph 3 of the Agreement. Only when an emergency exists, can an outside Contractor be used under Paragraph 3. Thus, the Carrier violated Rule 98, Paragraph 1 by calling an outside Contractor on the dates in question. Rule 98,
Paragraph 1 provides as follows:
"Wrecking crews will be composed of carmen, including Engineer, will be assigned by bulletin, and
will be paid under Rule 10."
Form 1 Award No. 10995
Page 4 Docket No. 10694
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The next query raised is whether Claimant Fish's claim should be dismissed because although called to the wreck he refused to go because he would
have performed the work of a Groundman, and not as a Wrecker Engineer. If
Claimant Fish believed that he was entitled to perform work for which he was
not called upon to perform, he should have protected the assignment and
grieved later. As stated in Second Division Award No. 8395 which also involved Claimant Fish:
"Mr. Fish was called twice to work, but refused,
saying it was not his normal work. His proper
response should have been to accept the call, and
if he felt he had been improperly placed, grieve
after the fact."
Accordingly, the Board is of the view that his Claim should be dismissed.
The final issue to be addressed is whether the time spent by the crew
during the evening is waiting time as provided under Rule 10, Paragraph 5,
relief time. Under Rule 10, Paragraph 5, waiting time is required to be paid
"at rate of time and one-half." There is no Rule of the Agreement that prohibits the Carrier from relieving a Wrecker from duty for rest and allowing
such Wrecker to go to bed while en route to the work location. In the judg-
ment of the Board, the Claimants were relieved for the purpose of taking a
rest after having worked 10.5 hours at Bowlus. As stated in Second Division
Award No. 1991:
"Part 2 of the claim is without merit. Rule 10
applies to wrecking service employees insofar as
pay is concerned, except that such employees are
entitled to pay at the time and one-half rate under
certain conditions. The pertinent part of Rule 10
is that which permits the Carrier to relieve a man
from duty and permits him to go to bed for five (5)
or more hours. Such relief time is not to be paid
for."
Thus on this aspect of the dispute between the parties, the Claim is
dismissed.
Form 1 Award No. 10995
Page 5 Docket No. 10694
2-S00-CM-'86
A W A R D
Claim sustained in accordance with the Findings.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Second Division
Attest:
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Nancy J ~Ver - Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 17th day of September 1986.
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