THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND SANTA FE RAILWAY
COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS: PBX Operator Position No. 41, Topeka, Kansas, hours 7:00 A. M. to 3:00 P. M., a position necessary to the continuous operation of the Carrier and so assigned, rest day Friday, was occupied by Miss Anna Jean Strange during January, 1949. On Friday, January 7, 1949, which was Miss Strange's rest day, the regularly assigned relief clerk, Miss Virginia Maxwell, was sick and not available to perform relief on Miss Strange's position. There were no qualified off-in-force-reduction employes available and, instead of notifying or calling Miss Strange to protect her own assignment on that date, as provided by Letter of Understanding dated April 15, 1943, Carrier tilized the services of Miss Helen Payne, who was regularly assigned to and occupied Messenger Position No. 150, hours 9:00 A. M. to 6:00 P. M., to protect this rest day relief.
POSITION OF EMPLOYES: There is in evidence an Agreement between the parties bearing effective date October 1, 1942, in which the following rule appeared:
of Article III, Section 10-a of the current Clerks' Agreement, which prescribed the manner in which temporary vacancies of fifteen (15) calendar days or less duration are to be filled. There actually existed in the Eastern Lines Relay and PBX Ofce at Topeka, Kansas, on January 7, 1949, the date involved in this dispute, a regular assigned rest day relief position (No. 325), the incumbent of wich regularly relieved employes necessary to the continuous operation of the Carrier on their rest days, including the claimant Miss Strange assigned to PBX Operator Position No. 41. Miss Maxwell's absence on January 7, 1949 from position No. 325, to which she was regularly assigned, unquestionably created a temporary vacancy in her position and to which Miss Payne obtained assignment in accordance with her rights under Article 111, Section 10-a of the current Clerks' Agreement. Miss Payne was just as much a rest day relief employe on that date within the meaning and intent of the Letter of Understanding as was Miss Maxwell, the regular incumbent of rest day relief position No, 325. The Letter of Understanding did not, nor was it ever intended to apply to a situation such as is presented in the instant dispute and there is no support whatever in the letter for the Employes' position that the Carrier should have called the claimant Miss Strange to protect Position No. 41 on January 7, 1949, her rest day, all contentions of the Employes to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Carrier repeats that the claimant Miss Strange, in the circumstances involved in this dispute, unquestionably had no right to work Position No. 41 on January 7, 1949, her assigned rest day, the protection of which was actually a portion of the assignment of regular rest day relief Position No. 325. The instant claim which seeks compensation in her behalf account not used on her rest day is clearly not supported by any rule of the current Clerks' Agreement or otherwise, and the Carrier respectfully requests that the Board deny it.
The Carrier is uninformed as to the arguments the Brotherhood will advance in their ex parts submission and accordingly reserves the right to submit such additional facts, evidence and argument as it may conclude are required in reply to the Brotherhood's ex parts submission or any subsequent oral argument or briefs presented by the Brotherhood in this dispute.
All that is herein contained has been both known and available to the Employes or their representatives.
OPINION OF BOARD: The facts, Agreement and circumstances involved in this docket are similar to those involved in Award 5607. The Opinion and Findings therein are equally applicable here.
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 Employes involved in this dispute are respectively Carrier and Employes 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