The facts, record and rules fully support the Employee' position and the Board is respectfully requested to sustain the claim in its entirety.

CARRIER'S STATEMENT OF FACTS: The "I.B.M." Room in which Position #339 was established is a 24 hour per day-X65 days per year operation.

Five, Six and Seven-Day positions have been established and maintained in this "I.B.M." Room to meet the requirements of the entire operation. The number of positions in each of the classifications have fluctuated in accordance with the volume of work necessary to be performed which is dependent in a large degree on the number of cars handled on the railroad.

At the time Position No. 339 was established the conditions indicated a need for it seven days per week and it was so utilized, with a regular incumbent working five days per week and a relief employe used on the sixth and seventh days.

POSITION OF CARRIER: The rest days of Position No. 339 were Tuesday and Wednesday and prior to September 18, 1963, the position had been worked seven days weekly. There was no regular relief assigned on Wednesdays and the position on that day was worked by an un-assigned employe. On days, after September 18, 1963 when there were no un-assigned employes available and the need for the position was not in evidence, the position was blanked for that day without any change having been made from a seven to six day assignment. The position has since September 18, 1963 worked six or seven days as conditions dictated.

I.B.M. Position No. 339-Clerical Machine Operator, was established in accordance with RULE 39% WORK WEEK.

NOTE: The expressions "position" and "work" used in this rule refer to service, duties, or operations necessary to be performed, the specified number of days per week, and not to the work week of individual employes.

(Emphasis Ours)

It was bulletined as a seven day position with Tuesdays and Wednesdays as assigned rust days. The regular incumbent bid in and accepted the position with such conditions. He was allowed all of the assigned rest days off (or paid at the time and one-half rate for work on any such rest day). He was not required to work at straight time on any day not a part of his regularly assigned work week which was properly established in accordance with the applicable rules of the agreement. The claim is without merit.

OPINION OF BOARD: At Clearing, Illinois the Carrier maintains an "IBM" room that is operated seven days a week twenty-four hours per day. Five, six and seven day positions have been established and maintained in this "IBM" room to meet the requirements of the Carrier's operation. The number of positions and the status of the operation has fluctuated in accordance with the volume of work necessary to be performed.

Prior to the date of this dispute, Claimant was the incumbent on "IBM" Position 339. This position was bulletined as a seven day position with assigned rest days of Tuesday and Wednesday. The Claimant bid in and accepted the position with such conditions. The position was relieved on Tuesdays by a relief employe and on Wednesday by a qualified furloughed employe or by the incumbent.

filled only six days each week, i.e., blanked each Wednesday, thereby establishing that the status of the position was changed from a 7-day to 6-day assignment and entitled to rest days accordingly, either Sunday and Monday or Saturday and Sunday."

The Carrier contends that after September 18, 1963 when there were no unassigned employes available and the need for the position was not in evidence, the position was blanked for the day without any change having been made from a seven to six day assignment. They state that, "The position has since September 18, 1963 worked six or seven days as conditions dictated."

The claim was properly filed and handled on the property.

The claim was denied by the Carrier and subsequently appealed to the Manager Labor Relations. The claim was declined on April 17, 1964.

The particular rules involved in this dispute are Rules 38 and Rule 46 of the Agreement.

"Rule 38 Work Week

Note: The expressions 'positions and work' used in this rule refer to service, duties or operations necessary to be performed the specified number of days per week, and not to the work week of individual employes.

(a) General:

Subject to the exceptions contained in this rule a work week of forty (40) hours, consisting of five (5) days of eight (8) hours each, with two (2) consecutive days off in each seven is hereby established for all employes. The work weeks may be staggered with the carrier's operations requirements; so far as practical, the days off shall be Saturday and Sunday. This rule is subject to the following provisions:

(b) Five-Day Positions

On positions the duties of which can reasonably be met in five (5) days, the days off will be Saturday and Sunday.

(c) Six-Day Positions

Where the nature of the work is such that employes wil be needed six days each week, the rest days will be either Saturday and Sunday or Sunday and Monday.

(d) Seven-Day Positions

On positions which have been filled seven days per week, any two days may be the rest days with the presumption in favor of Saturday and Sunday.

s * s

Rule 46-Notified or Called

(a) Except as otherwise provided in Rule 47, employes notified or called to perform work before or after, but not continuous with their regular work period, shall be allowed a minimum of three (3) hours' pay for two (2) hours' work or less, and if held for duty in excess of two (2) hours, time and one-half will be allowed on the actual minute basis.

(b) An employe notified or called to perform work on one or both of his assigned rest days or on any of the holidays specified in Rule 51, shall be paid a minimum of eight (8) hours at the rate of time and one-half for such service."

Award 6946 states:

"It will be noted that the staggering of work weeks is an integral part of Article III, Section 6. It is clearly of equal importance with the establishment of the 40 hour week itself. In other words, the establishing of the 40 hour week with two rest days in seven and the staggering of work weeks in accordance with the carriers' operational requirements are the two primary provisions of the 40 Hour Week Agreement, even though they are subject to other provisions of that agreement. It is plain that the right to stagger work weeks to meet carriers' operational requirements was of equal importance with the establishment of the 40 hour work week itself. We must conclude that the establishment of the 40 hour week without a reduction in weekly pay carried with it the idea that the carriers could eliminate certain unnecessary employes through the process of staggering work weeks. It was one of the compensating factors that was of advantage to the carriers when they agreed to the 40 hour work week with the same pay as the previous six day week. Award 5545."

Award 6946 was cited with approval in Award 9574 (Johnson).

We find that the Agreement has not been violated.

That the parties waived oral hearing;

That the Agreement was not violated.

AWARD