NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
Livingston Smith, Referee
MISSOURI-KANSAS-TEXAS RAILROAD COMPANY
MISSOURI-KANSAS-TEXAS RAILROAD COMPANY OF TEXAS
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood, that:
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS: The Carrier's track forces are assigned to work eight hours daily, Mondays through Fridays, except for designated holidays. Their regularly assigned rest days are Saturdays and Sundays and when they perform service for the Carrier on any assigned rest day or designated holiday they are compensated at time and one-half rates of pay for the hours worked, with a guarantee that they shall not be paid for less than two hours and forty minutes at time and one-half rates for each rest day or holiday on which such work is performed.
Beginning in July of 1951, the Carrier increased its track forces with some employes entering the Carrier's service as regular employes of a section and/or extra gang, during the middle of the work week. These newly hired employes were assigned the same duties, work locations, supervision and assigned work period as the other members of the respective gangs to which they were assigned.
The Carrier then required certain gangs to work on Saturdays and Sundays and compensated the employes who had been in service for the entire assigned work week at their respective time and one-half rates of pay for the work performed on Saturdays and Sundays, but the Carrier refused to similarly compensate the employes who had entered service during the middle of the work week, and continued to compensate them at straight time rates of pay until the second Saturday and/or Sunday on which they performed ser vice.
All data submitted in support of Carrier's position as herein set forth have been heretofore submitted to the employes or their duly authorized representatives.
OPINION OF BOARD: It is here alleged that Respondent violated the effective Agreement when it failed to pay compensation at the rate of time and one-half for work performed on Saturdays and Sundays during July and August 1951 to J. T. Thompson, C. L. Thompson and other Section and Extra Gang Laborers.
The Organization asserts that the employes here entered the Carrier's service on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, not as relief employes, but to work with the regular gangs on the same assigned work period of such regular gangs, which was Monday through Friday, with Saturday and Sunday as scheduled rest days; and that in so doing they were entitled to the same work week and resulting time and one-half compensation for work performed on Saturdays and Sundays.
It was pointed out that under Section 1 (i), Article 10, the term "work week" for unassigned employes was defined as a period of seven consecutive days, starting with Monday.
The Respondent takes the position that under the applicable rules of the effective Agreement there is a distinct difference between regularly assigned employes and those who are either extra or assigned in that such extra or unassigned employes have no assigned or designated days of rest and receive time and one-half compensation only when they have worked more than five days or forty hours in a work week.
The rules are clear that regularly assigned employes have a scheduled work week of Monday through Friday, with Saturday and Sunday as rest days, and that all work performed by such assigned employes on their rest days is properly compensable at time and one-half.
Thus we are here confronted with the question of whether or not the employes with which we here concern ourselves belong in the category of regularly assigned employes or are extra unassigned workers.
The Respondent, because of an existing emergency, found it necessary to supplement its regular forces with temporary forces who were terminated when such conditions were corrected.
Article 3, Rule 6, provides that the performance of "temporary" service shall not operate toward the establishment of seniority. Rule 4 of this Article specifies that vacancies or new positions of less than 20 days duration are to be considered as temporary and may be filled without regard to seniority and (Rule 7) are considered regularly assigned only after they have been so employed for 21 or more consecutive days and only then acquire seniority status.
It is admitted by the Organization that the days in question were not days which were a part of any assignment. Section 2 (f) of Article 10 provides:
We conclude, and so find and hold, that the Claimants here were temporary, unassigned employes who had worked neither more than 40 hours, 6334-11 489