NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND SANTA FE
RAILWAY COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "Claim of the General Committee of The Order of Railroad Telegraphers, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway that the carrier violated the Telegraphers' Agreement at Humboldt, Colony and Lebo, Kansas and at Norborne, Missouri where only two employes covered by said agreement are located, when it contracted with persons not covered by that agreement to perform, during the hours the Telegrapher is not on duty, - weekdays, Sundays or holidays, work covered by the Agreement, which is regularly assigned to and performed by one or both of these telegraphers during their assigned hours; and that the telegrapher at stations named herein, or at other stations where analogous conditions exist but which may have been inadvertently omitted from this claim, who by the governing rules of the current telegraphers' agreement is entitled to assignment to perform this contracted work, be paid retroactively for time not so assigned."
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS: "An Agreement bearing effective dates of February 6, 1924, as to rules and January 1 1923 as to rates, is in effect between the parties to this dispute. A revised agreement effective December 1, 1938, has since been negotiated.
"Prior to April 19, 1928 the station force at Norborne, Missouri consisted of agent-telegrapher, 2nd telegrapher, and 3rd telegrapher, providing 24-hour service. The assigned duties were those normally assigned to and performed by such employes; the handling of mail, baggage and express included therein. Effective April 19, 1928, the 3rd telegrapher position was abolished and concurrent therewith an outside person, not covered by any schedule agreement, was employed to meet trains on the 3rd shift to handle mail, baggage and express (duties previously assigned to and performed by the 3rd telegrapher) at a monthly rate of $8.00.
"Prior to December 7, 1937 the station force at Colony, Kansas consisted of agent-telegrapher, 2nd telegrapher, and 3rd telegrapher, providing 24-hour service. The assigned duties were those normally assigned to and performed by such employes; the handling of mail, baggage and express included therein. Effective December 7 1937 the 3rd telegrapher position was abolished and concurrent therewith an outside person, not covered by any schedule agreement, was employed to meet trains on the 3rd shift to handle mail, baggage and express (duties previously assigned to and performed by the 3rd telegrapher) at a monthly rate of $20.00. Effective February 17 1938 the monthly rate applying to said contract employe was reduced to $10.00 per month.
The Carrier for the sake of emphasis wishes to repeat here that the only aspects of this dispute which have been properly handled by the Organization and are therefore properly before this Board for consideration are the disputes involving the situations at Colony and Humbolt, Kansas and these have been allowed by the Organization to lie dormant for almost two years.
OPINION OF BOARD: The claim must be sustained because of a long line of applicable awards of this Division, among which are Nos. 217, 529, 535, 564, 602, 1018, 1061, 1082, 1083, 1084, 1121, 1273, 1274 and 1275. A number of these awards involve the same carrier and facts comparable to those embraced in the instant claim. 1566-21 197
Attempt is made to distinquish some of these awards because they involve only one man stations. The underlying principle of the cited awards is nevertheless as applicable to two man stations as it is to one man stations.
It is further argued that the claim is not valid because of the manner in which the disputes for each of the four stations were handled and progressed in view of Article V of the agreement. The answer to this argument may be found in various opinions of the Board, among which are Awards 529, 535 and 1082.
We refrain from quoting from the cited controlling awards. The action of the carrier in each instance was a violation of the agreement of which it had ample notice ever since March 30, 1938, the effective date of Award 002. However, under Award 1082 and those cited therein recovery must be limited to a period beginning thirty days prior to the filing of the complaints. We fix these dates from the record as follows: Colony and Humbolt, December 9, 1937. Norborne, June 17, 1938, and Lebo, March 20, 1939. We expressly decline to pass upon "other stations where analogous conditions exist but which may have been inadvertently omitted from this claim" in the absence of factual information upon which to base decision.
FINDINGS: The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, after giving the parties to this dispute due notice of hearing thereon, and upon the whole record and all the evidence, finds and holds:
That the carrier and the employe involved in this dispute are respectively carrier and employe within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as approved June 21, 1934;
That this Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute involved herein; and
That the facts of record disclose a violation of the agreement at Humboldt, Colony and Lebo, Kansas, and at Norborne, Missouri.