On the other hand, Bridge and Building sub-department employes hold and accumulate seniority in the respective classes within the Bridge and Building sub-department, and seniority rights to work of the Bridge and Building class are thereby excusively reserved to the employes who hold Bridge and Building seniority in preference to employes holding seniority in some other class and/or sub-department.

We respectfully request that our claim be allowed.

It is hereby affirmed that all data herein submitted in support of our position have heretofore been presented to the Carrier and are hereby made a part of the question in dispute.

CARRIER'S STATEMENT OF FACTS: To divert surface water from one side of track to the other, the Carrier's extra gang forces installed three (3) cross-drains through the stone ballast along the right-of-way on the West Chazy station grounds. These drains consisted of three (3) eighteen (18) inch cast iron pipes, each twelve (12) feet in length.

POSITION OF CARRIER: Carrier does not concur with Employes' statement-"Install culverts"-in classifying the work performed at West Chazy on August 14, 1950. The work actually done by the track force was to dig out the stone ballast between the ties and when a sufficient space had been opened, the sectionmen pushed an iron pipe, of the above dimensions, underneath the rails and then filled in the space with the stone ballast. The only tools used were picks and shovels to remove and replace the stone ballast.

When these pipe drains were completely installed, the tops of the pipes were on a level with the bottom of the ties. There is no connection whatever between the work performed and what would be required to install a culvert.

When a culvert is constructed, it is necessary to construct concrete head walls on each side of the track and a concrete wall on the side where the water flows so as to divert it through the drain. In addition, it is customary to have a concrete approach to the drain which receives the water from the stream. The installation of a culvert requires a passageway in the sub-grade below the stone ballast, with carpenters building the forms for the concrete.

In installing these track drains there was no masonry or carpentry work performed. The use of picks and shovels by trackmen to dig a ditch under the track is the customary duty of trackmen and certainly the pushing of a steel pipe through an opening cannot be considered a duty not properly performed by trackmen.

Management affirmatively states that all matters referred to in the foregoing have been discussed with Committee and made part of the particular question in dispute.

OPINION OF BOARD: This claim is that the Carrier violated the effective Agreement when it assigned Track Department employes in Extra Gang L-32 in lieu of Bridge and Building Department employes, to install culverts at West Chazy on August 14, 1950; that the Extra Gang employes be paid the difference between the amount received at their rate and what they would have received had they been compensated at the rate applicable to Bridge and Building Department employes, and that the Bridge and Building Department employes holding seniority on the Champlain Division who were deprived of the work be paid at their respective straight time rate of pay for an equal proportionate share of the man-hours consumed by the track force in performing the above referred to work.

violated by the Carrier. The Employes further state that culverts were installed and not Track Drains, that the cast iron pipes used were eighteen inches in diameter and twelve feet long; that a culvert performs the same function as a bridge and that this work belongs to the Bridge and Building employes.

The Carrier contends that the Employes are seeking to expand the intent and application of the existing agreement; that Extra Section Gang L-32 at West Chazy on August 14, 1950, installed three (3) cross drains through the stone ballast; the drains consisted of 18" CI Pipe 12' long; that no skilled R&B craftsmen were used or needed and that the only tools used were picks and shovels.

Affidavits of Section Foremen are introduced into the record by the Carrier to show past practice, recognized by both parties, under the several Agreements that this work has been performed by track forces.

This claim to be allowed must be supported by rules of the Agreement. Neither the scope rule or the seniority rules cited grants the work in question exclusively to the Bridge and Building employes. This Board has decided this question many times starting with Award 615 down through Award 6007.

We find the work here performed by the Extra Gang L-32 to be work incident to and directly attached to the duties of their jobs and work of a type they have performed in the past under all the agreements including this effective agreement.

There has been no violation of any of the rules of the effective agreement by the Carrier when it assigned the work here complained of to Extra Gang L-32 and not to the Bridge and Building Department employes.

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

There has been no violation of the Agreement.

AWARD