NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY AND STEAMSHIP CLERKS,
FREIGHT HANDLERS, EXPRESS AND STATION EMPLOYES
WABASH RAILROAD COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the
Brotherhood that:
1. Carrier violated the rules of the Schedule for Clerks, effective
May 1, 1953, when the Agent at Logansport, Indiana, was permitted to
perform the duties of a clerical assignment on Sunday, October 30,
1955, each Sunday during the month of November, 1955, Sunday,
December 25, 1955 and Sundays, January 1, 8, 15 and 22, 1956.
2. Clerk M. R. O'Brian, regularly assigned to position of Cashier
in the office of the Agent at Logansport, Indiana, shall be compensated for eight (8) hours at
overtime rate
of his assignment on
Sunday, October 30, 1955, each Sunday of November, 1955, Sunday,
December 25, 1955, and four Sundays, January 1, 8, 15 and 22, 1956.
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS: The clerical force at Logansport, Indiana, as of the issuance of the January 1956 clerical roster for the
Montpelier Division, constituted five positions as follows:
Bill Clerk
Cashier
Yard Clerks (2)
Relief Clerk (1)
Clerk M. R. O'Brian, assigned to position of Cashier, has a clerical service
date of May 10, 1946, and is junior in service to the Bill Clerk and one Yard
Clerk.
The position of Cashier is a five (5) day position, Monday through Friday, daily hours of assignment 8:00 A. M. to 5:00 P. M. The Bill Clerk position
is a seven (7) day assignment with relief Clerk assigned on Sundays and
Mondays, daily hours of assignment 5:00 P. M. to 2:00 A. M. One Yard Clerk
assignment is a seven (7) day position, daily hours of assignment 11:15 P. M.
to 8:15 A. M., with a relief clerk assigned on Tuesday and Wednesday. One
Yard Clerk assignment is a five day position, Monday through Friday, hours
[5621
96,81-20
531
"It is further my understanding and I believe cannot be disputed
by any one, that the yard clerks made it a practice to not be able to
be located by agent Bakle when there was work for them on Sunday.
also the Cashier would not be at home or would not answer his
telephone. (Emphasis ours)
CONCLUSION
The petitioner is attempting through the medium of an award by this
Division to obtain a rule which would prohibit the Agent at Logansport, whose
working conditions are governed by the Order of Railroad Telegraphers, from
performing clerical work on Sundays. In view of the fact that:
1. Agents and Telegraphers covered by the Telegraphers' Agreement have always performed clerical work incidental to their positions.
2. The right of the Carrier to require the performance of clerical
work by Agents and Telegraphers has never been surrendered by
agreement, or
3. The Schedule for Clerks commencing with that which became
effective with the Carrier as of January 1, 1920, as a result of the
agreement between the Director General of Railroads in Federal Operation, and all schedules subsequent thereto, did not limit the Carrier's right to have Agents and Telegraphers perform clerical work.
4. The Agent at Logansport has performed the clerical work in
question at Logansport on Sundays for many years.
5. Clerks have not performed the clerical work in question at
Logansport during the day shift on Sundays for many years.
6. The Schedules for Clerks, effective November 1, 1948 and May
1, 1953, did not change or abrogate the practice of the carrier in using
the Agent and Telegraphers to perform the clerical work at Logansport on Sundays, a practice of many years standing.
the claim as set up in the Employes' ex parte Statement of Claim is without
merit.
The Carrier affirmatively states that the substance of all matters referred
to herein has been made the subject of correspondence or discussion in conference between the representatives of the parties hereto and made a part of
the particular question in dispute.
Exhibits not reproduced.)
OPINON OF BOARD:
The Record herein establishes that the clerical
work in dispute was regularly assigned to Yard Clerk Job 13, six days per
week, hours 7:30 A. M. to 4:30 P. M., and that the Agent performed such work
on his assigned rest day, Sunday, at the punitive rate of pay in preference to
calling "the regular employe" as provided in Rule 12, Section 2 (g); thus, the
Agreement was violated. The Award in this case of necessity can only apply
to the particular circumstances involved in the case.
The claim should be sustained at the pro rata rate. As to allowing the
pro rata rather than overtime rate see Award 8041 in which the present
Referee also participated.
9681-21
5SZ
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 Employe involved in this dispute are respectively
Carrier and Employe 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
That the Carrier violated the Agreement.
AWARD
Claim sustained at the pro rata rate.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of THIRD DIVISION
ATTEST: S. H. Schulty
Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois this 7th day of December, 1960.