NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND AND
PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: . . for and in behalf of Sterling Jones, who is presently employed by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company as a sleeping car porter operating out of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.
Because the Rock Island Railroad did, through Mr. M. H. Bonesteel, General Superintendent of Dining and Sleeping Cars, take disciplinary action against Mr. Sterling Jones by giving him a ninety (90) day actual suspension from the service without pay, which suspension was based upon charges which were unproved and which action was harsh, cruel, arbitrary, unjust, and in abuse of the Company's discretion.
And further, for the record of Mr. Jones to be cleared of the charge in this particular case and for him to be reimbursed for the ninety (90) days pay he lost as a result of this unjust disciplinary action as is provided for under the rules of the Agreement governing the class of employes of which Mr. Jones is a part.
OPINION OF BOARD: Claimant, a Sleeping Car Porter, was charged as follows:
Hearing having been held Claimant was found guilty as charged and was suspended from service for 90 days.
While there is evidence in the record, which if believed, supports a finding that Claimant "did not open up your sleeping car on Train No. 17 at St. Paul, Minnesota for the purpose of receiving passengers," the evidence does not support a finding that, under the conditions prevailing, this constituted a violation of Rule 2 of the General Rules and Instructions for Sleeping Car Porters.
The following uncontroverted testimony of Mr. Burch, corroborated by Mrs. Burch, witnesses for Carrier, establishes that Car No. 17, the last car of the train, was short of the station platform:
Claimant is charged with violation of Rule 2. Rule 2 does not require the porter to have the door of a car open and be out on the station platform when the car is "short of station platform". It follows, therefore, that Claimant did not violate Rule 2 as charged. We will sustain the Claim.
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 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 Claimant did not violate Rule 2 of the General Rules and Instructions for Sleeping Car Porters, as charged.