NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY AND STEAMSHIP CLERKS, FREIGHT HANDLERS, EXPRESS AND STATION EMPLOYES
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that the Carrier violated the Clerks' Wage Agreement and the provisions and intent of the Clerks' Agreement when, effective April 1, 1948, it created position of Stenographer and Clerk at Lorain, Ohio, and rated the position at $150.00 per month, and
That Carrier shall now be required by appropriate order of the Board to establish a minimum clerical rate of $218.03 per month effective April 1, 1948, and to which shall be added the increase effective October 1, 1948 of seven cents (7c) per hour, and
That the incumbent of the position and all others affected be reimbursed for wage loss sustained retroactive to April 1, 1948.
OPINION OF BOARD: This is a resubmission of Docket CL-5030, which was remanded by Award No. 5162. The claim is now before us in order that we may determine if there was a position in the office of the Superintendent at Lorain, Ohio, similar in kind and class to the position of StenographerClerk which was bulletined on March 25, 1948.
The original case was not dismissed nor denied and the parties are properly before us at this time.
The record discloses that the Organization sought to conduct a joint check of certain positions. The Carrier chose not to participate in such a check. Such joint check was not made mandatory by Award No. 5162. The burden of proof in this instance falls upon the Organization and an assertion that the Agreement has been violated is not in itself enough to warrant a sustaining Award. We must look to the proof.
Award No. 5162 says, in effect, that it must be shown that there was a position of similar class or kind in the Superintendent's office. Said Award further states that the Superintendent's office at Lorain is a department within the meaning of Rule 14 and that the office of the Supervisor of Safety and Employment is a subordinate division and not a department. Thus we conclude that for the purpose of this case we are to consider the term "Superintendent's office" and Superintendent's department as being synonomous.
In order to arrive at a proper conclusion it becomes necessary that we examine the positions which were time checked by the employes. All were stenographic positions requiring proficiency in taking and transcribing shorthand. However, basic requirements do not necessarily mean that the positions are similar in kind or class. Other factors enter into determination of similarity of kind and class. Such factors may be special knowledge, degree of proficiency, duties and responsibility.
In the present case the evidence is not sufficient to establish such similarity as contemplated by Rule 14 of the Agreement and we must necessarily deny the claim.
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