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 of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employes:
EMPLOYES, STATEMENT OF FACTS: For a number of years, the work of preparing journal box packing in rolls was performed by Storehouse Men (Dope House or Oil House Men), at Spencer, N. C., Shop and at Hayne, S. C., Car Shops and Rip Track Freight Yard. The journal box packing after being made into rolls by Stores Department employes was packed or stacked into metal barrels or square metal boxes which served as a vat and oil was poured over the rolls to resoak them at various intervals, the journal box packing so prepared was issued to Carmen (Mechanical Department employes), as needed by them in packing journal boxes on both Freight and Passenger equipment.
Beginning about 1940, the practice of preparing journal box packing in rolls was discontinued and loose packing was issued to repack journal boxes, until the latter part of 1949 or the early part of 1950 when the practice of preparing journal box packing in rolls was restored.
Division Award 1523 involving claim that machinists' and electricians' work was being performed by Signalmen in maintaining and repairing car retarders. See also First Division Award 15220. There are others.
This case meets the conditions dealt with in those awards. The work here claimed by the Brotherhood on behalf of storehouse men is not included in Rule 2 (f) of the effective clerical agreement which defines the work of storehouse men, and the work claimed is now being performed and has for many years been performed by employes of the Carmen's craft whose claims are subject to the jurisdiction of the Second Division of the Adjustment Board. Based on the findings of awards involving notice, necessary parties, and jurisdiction of the respective divisions in such cases, the claim of the Brotherhood in this case should either be dismissed because the Third Division does not possess authority to make a valid award against employes of a craft over which it has no jurisdiction, or it should be denied because the work here claimed has not been contracted to storehouse men under the effective clerical agreement. Carrier respectfully requests that the Board dismiss claim for want of jurisdiction, but if not dismissed, that it be denied.
All relevant facts involved in this dispute have been made known to the employes, representatives.
OPINION OF BOARD: It appears from the record in this case that the Carrier Members of the Board objected to the Board's assuming jurisdiction in this docket because "there is another or other parties whose interest might be affected by an award."
That this is true also appears from the claim which says that the work for which claim is made "has been assigned to and has been required of Carmen (Carmen Helpers),'Mechanical Department employes covered by an entirely different agreement" and claim is further made for all monetary loss suffered "until the work is restored under the Clerks' Agreement".
It thus appears that the men in the Mechanical Department are men "who were directly involved in the claim", (using the same quotation as was used by the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals for this District (Northern District, Eastern Division) in Case No. 10959), October Term, 1953, January Session, 1954, as appears in its opinion announced March 9, 1954). Notice must be given them.
We know that disputes involving employes of the Mechanical division are under the jurisdiction of the Second Division of this Board and in that connection we have given careful attention to the opinion of the Board in Award No. 5702. In that award Referee Wenke relies on certain language of the Supreme Court of the United States in Slocum vs. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Co., 339 U. S. 239, but a reference to that opinion shows that in footnote 7 the Court said, "Nor are we called upon to decide any question concerning judicial proceedings to review board action or inaction"
which statement is supported by the Court's statement in the Illinois Central Case, supra, which is quoted from in our recent Award 6680, wherein we held that in light of that Opinion, this Board is powerless to proceed until the notice to other parties "who were directly involved in the claim" is given.
Consequently the same disposition must be made of this docket as was done in Award No. 6680.
FINDINGS: The Third Division of the Adjustment Board 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; 6681-13 1062