Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD Award No. 12314
SECOND DIVISION Docket No. 12340-T
92-2-91-2-141
The Second Division consisted of the regular members and in
addition Referee Edward L. Suntrup when award was rendered.
(Brotherhood Railway Carmen/ Division of TCU
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Norfolk Southern Railway Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
1. That the Southern Railroad Company violated Rules 42, 148 and
Article VI of the November 19, 1986 National Agreement when work belonging to
the Carmen's Craft was improperly assigned to employes other than Carmen at
Linwood, North Carolina, on Sunday, May 6, 1990.
2. That accordingly, the Southern Railroad Company be ordered to
compensate Carman J. A. Nesbitt five (5) hours pay at the regular Carman's
rate in effect on the day the violation took place.
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.
As Third Party in Interest, the American Railway and Airway
Supervisors Association was advised of the pendency of this dispute and did
not file a Submission with the Division.
On May 21, 1990, the Local Chairman, Spencer, North Carolina, filed a
Claim with the Master Mechanic at the Carrier's facilities in Linwood, North
Carolina on grounds that the Carrier was in violation of the Agreement when
it
used a Car Foreman on Sunday, May 6, 1990, to perform an "apply and release"
brake test on Train 222 on Track 2 at the receiving yard at Linwood. After
the Claim was denied and appealed up to and including the Carrier's highest
designated officer it was docketed before the Board for final adjudication.
Form 1 Award No. 12314
Page 2 Docket No. 12340-T
92-2-91-2-141
According to arguments presented by the Organization, as moving ,d,
party, the following represent the facts of the Claim:
"The Southern Railway Company operates a facility
at Linwood, North Carolina, in which they have
yards from which trains depart to various destinations.' Carmen are employed at this facility
twenty-four (24) hours per day, seven days per
week. The two (2) Carmen involved in these two
claims are two of these Carmen. Carman Nesbitt is
employed from 11 P.M. till 7 A.M., Monday through
Friday, with rest days, Saturday and Sunday
....'
When the Carrier used a Foreman to do the brake test on the 46 cars on train
222 on the Sunday in question, according to the Organization, in lieu of
calling a Carman, it violated the Agreement.
The argument presented by the Carrier is that when Train 222 arrived
at Spencer Yard and yarded on Track 1 the train crew removed units to pick a
"solid block of cars from train 224." All cars remained charged with air and
needed no initial, terminal air brake test. When the engineer uncoupled from
the inbound train, and after a recoupling was made, discovered that he had
lost the signal from the End of Train Device (EDOT) it was necessary to reset
it. Once the EDOT was reset the engineer "of his own volition made a set and
release." The only work which the Foreman did, according to the Carrier, was
to "tell the engineer his brakes were released and the EDOT was blinking."
According to the Carrier, the setting and releasing function, utilizing the -
Head and End of Train Devices, is not work exclusively reserved to Carmen on
system-wide basis. The Carrier did admit that necessary air brake tests and
air hose couplings were done, but that was not done by the Foreman but by the
train crew. According to the Carrier, such work was "incidental to handling
movement of cars of their own trains." The Carrier also argues that the
relief requested is excessive. Likewise, it argues that various Awards cited
by the Organization as precedent to support its Claim deal with "initial
terminal brake tests" and are not, therefore, on point.
The Board notes that it is true that train crews performed air brake
tests and coupled air hoses when the trains were being put together but this
work is not being grieved here. Nowhere in the record of the instant case
does the Organization bridge this subject. What is being grieved is the right
of Carmen only to perform the specific function dealing with the apply and
release test. The Carrier states that all the Foreman did was tell the
engineer that his brakes were released and the EDOT was blinking. As moving
party to the instant case, the Organization does not rebut this rendition of
the facts by the Carrier. The question here then is whether the Carrier was
obliged to call the Claimant, then on his rest day, to perform this task. As
a matter of Agreement Interpretation, which function this Board is charged to
perform, the contractual issue is whether the work as described by the Carrier
is reserved exclusively to Carmen under the Rules of the Agreement. The Rules
at bar state in pertinent part:
Form 1 Award No. 12314
Page 3 Docket No. 12340-T
92-2-91-2-141
Rule 148
COUPLING, INSPECTION AND TESTING
"RULE 148. In yards or terminals where carmen in
the service of the carrier operating or servicing
the train are employed and are on duty in the
departure yard, coach yard or passenger terminal
from which trains depart, such inspecting and
testing of air brakes and appurtenances on trains
as is required by the carrier in the departure
yard, coach yard, or passenger terminal, and the
related coupling of air, signal and steam hose
incidental to such inspection, shall be performed
by the carmen.
This rule shall not apply to coupling of air hose
between locomotive and the first car of an outbound
train; between the caboose and the last car of an
outbound train or between the last car in a
"doubleover" and the first car standing in the
track upon which the outbound train is made up."
(Emphasis added)
Article VI of the 1986 Agreement states.
Article VI
"At locations referred to in Paragraphs (a), (c),
(d) and (e) where carmen were performing inspec
tions and tests of air brakes and appurtenances on
trains as of October 30, 1985, carmen shall con
tinue to perform such inspections and tests and the
related coupling of air, signal and steam hose in
cidental to such inspections and test. At these
locations this work shall not be transferred to
other crafts.
Where air brake inspections and test were removed
from the jurisdiction of carmen at locations re
ferred to in the preceding paragraph on or subse
quent to October 30, 1985, such work shall be re
turned to carmen within 60 days of the effective
date of this Agreement. Where such work performed
by carmen is transferred to another location, car
men shall be utilized to perform such work. Any
new air brake inspection work shall be assigned
according to principles identifying the traditional
delineation between carmen's work and work belong
ing to operation employees.
Form 1 Award No. 12314
Page 4 Docket No. 12340-T
92-2-91-2-141
Any rules or. practices which prohibit or restrict
the use of Car Inspectors from working on cars
taken from trains for repairs are hereby elimi
nated. Carmen assigned to make air brake inspec
tions and test, when not engaged in such work, may
be assigned to perform any work which they are
capable of performing and which does not infringe
on the contractual rights of other employees.
If there has been a diminution of air brake in
spection and testing work due to a transfer of the
work to another location, the remaining air brake
inspection and testing work cannot be assigned to
other than carmen except as provided in the Letter
of Understanding attached hereto. If causes other
than a transfer of work to another location pre
cipitate the diminution of carmen's air brake
inspection and testing work, at the locations
identified above, nothing in this Article shall
require the employment of a carman if there is not
sufficient work of the craft to justify employing a
carman.* Any dispute as to whether or not there is
sufficiency of work shall be determined according
to the following procedures:
Upon adequate advance request the General Chairman
of Carmen shall be allowed access to the location
in question to enable him to determine whether or
not to request a joint check.
When requested by the General Chairman the parties
will undertake a joint check of the work done.
During such check, there will be no change made in
the scheduling of trains normally operated nor in
the work normally assigned for the purpose of
affecting the joint check.
If the dispute is not resolved by agreement, it
shall be handled under the provisions of Section 3,
Second, of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and
pending disposition of the dispute, the railroad
may proceed with or continue its determination. If
the Board determines that the joint check has not
been taken in accordance with the procedures
described herein, the Board shall order another
joint check and have the authority to 1) restore
abolished positions, 2) award back pay; and 3) take
other appropriate remedial action.
Form 1 Award No. 12314
Page 5 Docket No. 12340-T
92-2-91-2-141
The railroad shall have the burden of showing that
the operations either were not changed or that any
change that was made was for operational reasons
and not to effect the joint check."
(Emphasis added)
Finally, the Organization cites Rule 42 which is cited here, in pertinent part.
Rule 42
ASSIGNMENT OF WORK-USE OF SUPERVISORS
"Rule 42. (a) None but mechanics or student
mechanics regularly employed as such shall do
mechanics' work as per the special rules of each
craft except foremen at points where no mechanics
are employed. However, craft work performed by
foremen or other supervisory employees employed on
a shift shall not in the aggregate exceed 20 hours
a week for one shift, 40 hours a week for two
shifts, or 60 hours for all shifts.
(b) If any question arises as to the amount of
craft work being performed by supervisory
employees, a joint check shall be made at the
request of the General Chairman of the organizations affected. Any disputes over the application of this rule shall be handled in
accordance with the provisions of Rule 35-Claims
and Grievances."
The Organization cites arbitral precedent to support its position in
this case. A review of that precedent shows that Second Division Awards 8448,
8602 more recently 11790, all sustained claims but only when it was alleged
that the work at bar, which consisted in coupling hoses, inspecting cars and
making air brake tests, was done by train crews ostensively involving what the
Carrier, in its arguments in the instant case, call initial terminal brake
tests, inspections and so on. Although there is evidence that train crews in
the instant case did couple hoses and so on that point is not grieved by the
Organization. The conclusions of the precedent cited by the Organization,
therefore, are not on point with the instant case. Likewise, the exact
relationship between Second Division Award 11287 and the case now before the
Board is obscure although in that case also the work was done by a train crew
and not a Foreman. More pertinent to this case, we believe, is Award 120 of
Public Law Board 3858 issued on this property in 1989, to which the Organization offered no dissent. That case dealt with an issue comparable to the
one here and that Claim also originated at the Carrier's Linwood, North
Carolina, yard. In that case the Board concluded:
Form 1 Award No. 12314
Page 6 Docket No. 12340-T
92-2-91-2-141
" Certainly, potential loss of Carmen work is -
rightfully a matter of concern. However, in this
instance we find no rule that would require the
Carrier to have a carman observe the release of
brakes on the rear of a train. In its essence,
what we find here at issue is a cut of cars that
has already been pre-tested and mechanically
inspected by Carmen. Under these circumstances
there is no violation of the Rules."
Study of the Rules cited in the foregoing warrant concurrence with this
conclusion by Award 120 which, because of the parellels between the parties,
the issue, and even the location of origin of the Claim, can reasonably be
considered under title of res judicata to the instant case. Although
application of this principle was not argued by the parties in handling of
this Claim on property, Awards issued by various PLBs and the NRAB are matters
of public information to be used by this Board in the reasonable formulation
of conclusions and framing of decisions on Claims brought before it. The
Agreement was not violated.
A W A R D
Claim denied.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD vow
By Order of Second Division
Attest:
Nh
ncy J. -Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 29th day of April 1992.