NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
(Supplemental)
CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND AND PACIFIC
RAILROAD COMPANY
when no work exists there for him to perform. Certainly, no such situation was even remotely suggested or contemplated by the Scope Rule or any other rule of the applicable Telegraphers' Agreement.
The findings of the Arkansas Public Service Commission are competent evidence to show that the duties assigned to Malvern which were discontinued at Butterfield are concurrent with the abolishment of the positions and there has been no transfer of work characterizing the duties of telegraphic service employes to employes outside of the scope of the Telegraphers' Agreement.
Because neither the facts in the case nor the applicable agreement support the employes' allegation that "all the work of that (Butterfield) position" was transferred to ". . . a position not within the scope of said agreement. . . ", we respectfully request your Honorable Board to deny the claim of the employes.
OPINION OF BOARD: The facts are not in dispute. Prior to 1955, at Butterfield, Arkansas there were assigned positions for a clerk, and an AgentTelegrapher. About March 26, 1955 the Butterfield Clerical position was moved to Malvern, Arkansas, about 5 miles south. The work was placed under the supervision of the Supervisory (appointive) Agent at Malvern, a position specifically excluded from the Telegrapher's Contract pursuant to Memorandum D, which reads:
Malvern was listed in Group 1(c) following the above quoted Memorandum D.
As of September 1, 1956, the Agent Telegrapher's position at Butterfield was abolished, and the station closed. Thereafter, the Carrier provided service at Butterfield by having the Clerk at Malvern, drive to Butterfield each day for the purpose of checking the yard and signing bills of lading. This clerk was under the supervision of the supervisory agent at Malvern.
The position of Agent-Telegrapher at Butterfield had been in existence since 1905. The Contract, at page 91, provides a pay rate for the position of Agent-Telegrapher at Butterfield. There is no question that the business of the Carrier, over the rails at Butterfield, was undiminished, and of substantial volume. The station was closed however, and the position abolished, for which this Claim is made.
The work currently being performed at Butterfield is not exclusively work of Telegraphers. There is no work remaining at Butterfield that is exclusively work of Telegraphers. Employes cite Award 6204 (Shake), and other awards to sustain the principal that a position may not be abolished so long as the work which caused its creation in the first place, is still required to be performed. The principal is sound, but the facts of 6204 are quite different than those with which we are here concerned. In 6204, it was contended the Teleg- 12484-20 964
rapher duties were transferred to Red Key, thus the work remained in existence. Here the Telegrapher duties were abolished, and the work no longer required to be performed. As of March 26, 1955 the Clerk at Malvern was instructed to drive daily to Butterfield, wait at the station for bills of lading, sign the same, and perform other work. (Employe's submission-record 5). These are the only duties now performed at Butterfield. The work of the Agent-Telegrapher, abolished September 1, 1956, no longer exists nor has it been transferred to any other point or employe.
FINDINGS: The Third Division of the Adjustmcnt 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
CONCURRING OPINION
AWARD 12484
DOCKET TE-9967
We concur with the Opinion in denying the claim, but cannot agree that Award 6204-Shake, states a sound principle as it has been overruled by subsequent awards of this Division.