NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
(Supplemental)
William N. Christian, Referee
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
THE ORDER OF RAILROAD TELEGRAPHERS
THE NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY
(Western District)
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the General Committee on the
New York Central Railroad-Western District, that:
1. The Carrier violated Article 19, Section 3 of the agreement
between the parties when it refused to pay employes whom it required
to take a second examination (written or oral), or attend classes on
operating rules, or to attend instruction classes in connection with
operating rules, in the calendar year of 1957.
2. The Carrier shall be required to pay the regular rate per
hour, as specified in Article 19, Section 2 (f), to the following named
employes, and for the date and time shown:
Name Date Time Claimed
B. V. Tatum March 5, 1957 2 hours
H. V. Kantz March 14, 1957 2 hours
J. S. Smith March 12, 1957 2 hours
E. C. Swanson March 15, 1957 5 hours 30 minutes
W. J. Boiko March 15, 1957 1 hour 15 minutes
F. Bush March 14, 1957 4 hours
T. E. Good March 14,1957 3 hours 15 minutes
G. W. Hoover March 15, 1957 5 hours
V. C. Schlicht March 14, 1957 5 hours
J. L. Witter, Jr. March 12, 1957 3 hours 30 minutes
J. L. Witter, Sr. March 13, 1957 3 hours 30 minutes
[4311
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Name Date Time Claimed
C. E. Smothers March 14, 1957 4 hours
D. J. Casadonte April 5, 1957 3 hours
F. W. Shirk April 5,1957 3 hours
B. D. Dorazewski April 5,1957 3 hours
C. H. Foss March 27, 1957 2 hours
N. G. Whitmore April 1, 1957 2 hours
H. P. Creet April 1, 1957 2 hours
W. Y. Sandison April 5, 1957 2 hours
R. C. Harris April 5, 1957 2 hours
J. C. Reid April 1,1957 2 hours
F. J. Smolek April 2, 1957 2 hours
D. Curran April 1, 1957 2 hours
K. W. Fox April 2, 1957 2 hours
B. T. Sisson April 4, 1957 2 hours
J. E. Smith April 3, 1957 2 hours
L. M. Parr April 1, 1957 2 hours
R. S. Betts April 3,1957 2 hours
A. D. Worcester April 3, 1957 2 hours
E. A. Priebe April 3, 1957 2 hours
G. Vasickanin April 3, 1957 2 hours
J. A. Bros. April 1, 1957 2 hours
D. S. Piunno April 3, 1957 2 hours
D. J. Purney April 10,1957 2 hours
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS: The named claimants received
the following Yellow Bulletin Notice on January 9, 1957, issued by the Super-
intendent of the Carrier at Chicago, Illinois:
"NOTICE
"ALL CONDUCTORS N0. NYC-250 MC-138
ALL TRAINMEN
ALL ENGINEMEN
ALL YARDMEN
ALL TELEGRAPHERS AND DISPATCHERS
ALL AGENTS
New `Rules of the Operating Department' dated October 28, 1956,
for the purpose of information only, will be distributed to all em-
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Rules" will be compensated therefor. The claim for completing a questionnaire
on the rules on claimants' own time was denied, the Board stating that the
claim was not supported by the rule.
Similarly, the Third Division has held that claims for compensation for
attending class or examination on operating rules must be denied in the
absence of a specific rule covering the matter; Awards 7577, 7631.
In Third Division Award No. 6906 the applicable agreement contained
a provision for compensation for examinations attended on rest days and
the claim was for compensation for examinations attended on off duty hours.
The claim was sustained only to the extent of the actual wording of the
agreement, Referee A. L. Coffey stating that the Board shall not be used by
the parties to gain by interpretation what was not yet settled by the parties
in negotiation.
Therefore, under the principles of the First and Third Divisions, National
Railroad Adjustment Board, the claims in this dispute are not valid since
they are not supported by the wording of the applicable agreement.
CONCLUSION
1. The questionnaire completed by claimants on a voluntary basis
and of their own volition did not constitute the first class or
examination in operating rules.
2. The regular book of rules classes held by Carrier in March and
April, 1957, were the one class or examination in operating rules
held during 1957.
3. The wording of Article 19, Section 3, of the Telegraphers' Agreement does not support the claim presented by the Organization.
4. Awards of the National Railroad Adjustment Board support
Carrier's position in this dispute.
5. The claim is wholly without merit and should be denied.
All evidence and data set forth herein have been considered by the
parties in conference.
OPINION OF BOARD:
The issue is whether Carrier is obligated to pay
Claimants for attending a class or examination in connection with operating
rules, where Carrier within the same calendar year had previously required
Claimants to fill out the answers to 906 printed questions. Article 19, Section
3 of the effective Agreement provides in part:
"The following regulations shall apply in connection with employes required to take examinations or attend classes on operating
rules:
"Subject to the exceptions listed below, an employe required to
take examination, (written or oral) or to attend instruction in connection with operating rules shall be compensated therefor upon the
basis of all time consumed from time required to report for such
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examination or instructions until released from same. Such compensation will be same as is provided for in Section 2 of this article.
"EXCEPTIONS
"(a) One class or examination in Operating Rules each calendar
year
...."
The prior requirement of completing 906 answers to printed questions was
an examination within the meaning of Article 19, Section 3, and such prior
requirement exhausted the exception of Article 19, Section 3. It follows that
Claimants are due compensation for the subsequent and second period, a
class of instruction or examination.
FINDINGS: The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, upon the
whole record and all the evidence, finds and holds:
That the parties waived oral hearing;
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
That the Agreement was violated.
AWARD
Claim sustained.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of THIRD DIVISION
ATTEST: S. H. Schulty
Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 13th day of December 1963.