THIRD DIVISION
(Supplemental)
(a) The Agreement Governing Hours of Service and Working Conditions between Railway Express Agency, Inc., and the Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employes, effective September 1, 1949 was violated in the Old Blue Ridge Train Service Seniority District when two Messenger positions in Group 132 assigned to operate between Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia on Atlantic Coast Line Railroad-Norfolk and Western Railway Trains 29-22-21-20 were nominally abolished effective November 1, 1961 and the work or job content thereof transferred to the Petersburg station service seniority roster without prior conference and agreement;
(c) Carrier shall be required to make a joint check of the payroll records in the Old Blue Ridge and Old Kanawha Train Service Seniority Districts to ascertain the names of employes involved together with amount of reparation due each employe affected.
performed this work along with messengers. In that case messenger service on Illinois Central trains 31 and 32 between Chicago, 111. and Champaign, Ill. was abolished and a new shortened run was set up on the same trains between Chicago and Rantoul, Ill. The trains, however, continued to run between Chicago and Champaign. Thomasboro, Ill. was an intermediate express office between Rantoul and Champaign. After the new run was established, the station force at Thomasboro loaded and unloaded non-messenger classification traffic with no messenger on the train as it had done when the messenger was present. The Organization contended that the action of the Carrier was in violation of Rules 5, 22 and 79-A. Referee Stocking denied the claim that the messenger run be restored to operate between Chicago and Champaign and that the messengers be compensated for lost earnings. Decision E-964 is directly in point in this dispute and Carrier submits that the precedent established by this award requires denial of the claim.
The instant claim is without merit and should be denied. When the Richmond-Norfolk car is worked by station forces at Petersburg, it is a part of the consist of N&W 22 which has a messenger assigned to it from Petersburg to Norfolk. In addition, Petersburg is a messenger terminal and it has always been the practice that station forces can load or unload a car at such point where no messenger is assigned to the train without it being considered a violation of the Agreement. Finally, Decision E-964 of Express Board of Adjustment No. 1, which is controlling in this case, stands for the proposition that messengers do not have the exclusive right to load and unload nonmessenger classification traffic, and that it is not, a violation of the Agreement when station forces perform this work at an intermediate point.
OPINION OF BOARD: In this case the Organization alleges that work which was formerly performed by the Claimants is now being performed by employes on another seniority district. They further allege that this work was transferred to the other district without conference and agreement and in violation of Rule 22, which says in part:
The record indicates that there is no contention concerning the transfer of positions. The Organization is contending that, "work involving a position," was transferred from one seniority district to another without conference and agreement. The Carrier defends against this charge by asserting that the employes in the second seniority district are, "unloading non-messenger classification traffic." This allegation is not denied by the Organization in their initial submission and they failed to submit a rebuttal argument in this case. Therefore, we are forced to accept as true, those unchallenged allegations contained in Carrier's submission.
We are unable to find any substantive proof in this case that, "Positions or work involving a position," have been transferred from one seniority district to another. Therefore, we do not believe that the requirements of Rule 22, concerning conference and agreement, are applicable in this case. 14032-16 26