NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
Arnold Zack, Referee
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
TRANSPORTATION-COMMUNICATION EMPLOYEES UNION
(Formerly The Order of Railroad Telegraphers)
NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the General Committee of The
Order of Railroad Telegraphers on the Norfolk Southern Railway that:
1. The Carrier violated the agreement between the parties
when and because it required or permitted the STAR (non-operator) agent at Vanceboro, North Carolina, to handle by use of the
dispatcher's telephone communications of record (messages and
reports) on the dates specified below, and that it further violated
and continues to violate Article 13(b) of the Schedule Agreement
of August 1, 1937, when it failed and refuses to remove the telephone and wires from "at or about" said station at Vanceboro:
January 15, 16, 19, 20, 23, 26, 27;
February 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 24;
March 3, 4, 5, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31;
April 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23,
24, 27, 28, 29, 30;
May 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,
25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30;
June 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17;
July 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24,
27, 28, 29, 30, 31;
August 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 18, 20, 27, 28, 31;
September 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30;
October 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20, 22, 23, 26, 27,
28, 30;
November 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
23, 24, 25, 27, 30;
December 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 29,
30, 31, 1959;
January 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 1960.
2. As a consequence of said violations we request that the senior idle operator, extra in preference, be compensated a minimum of
a day's pay for each date on which the above communications were
so handled.
3. The agent-operator's rate of pay shall be restored at Vanceboro effective as of May 6, 1957, and to remain in effect until
such time as the wires are removed in accordance with Article 13(b)
of the Schedule Agreement.
4. The senior idle operator, extra in preference, shall be compensated a minimum of eight (8) hours for each day that said telephone remains "at or about" the station at Vanceboro, commencing May 6, 1957, and continuing until such time as the wires are
removed as provided for by the agreement.
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF
FACTS: Carrier's main line extends
westward from Norfolk, Virginia to Charlotte, North Carolina, a distance
of 381 miles. Marsden, North Carolina is located 127 miles west of Norfolk.
At Marsden the New Bern-Bayboro branch spurs southward for 45 miles.
Vanceboro is situated 15 miles south of Marsden.
The currently effective agreement as of August 1, 1937 lists an agentoperator's position at Vanceboro as per the following:
"Pro-Rata Overtime
Monthly
Station Position Hourly Rate Hourly Rate Rate
Vanceboro A-0 $0.67 $1.00%"
Article 13(a) and (b), as to the classification of employes, provides:
"(a) When regular telegraph and/or telephone duties are added
to a non-telegraph or non-telephone position, the rate of pay shall
be increased to conform to that of existing positions of similar
work and responsibility, such rate shall become effective as of
the date change takes place.
(b) Where regular telegraph or telephone offices are discontinued as such and the wires removed, compensation will be adjusted
to conform to that of existing positions of similar work and responsibility."
Commencing with the October 1, 1919 Agreement and continuing with
each agreement thereafter, i.e., July 1, 1921, January 16, 1922, June 1, 1924,
December 16, 1926, and August 16, 1937, Vanceboro has borne the classification of agent-operator.
On February 12, 1942, the Carrier reclassified the agent-operator's
position at Vanceboro, rate 77 cents per hour, to that of non-telegraph,
non-telephone agent, rate $97.92 per month. The Carrier did not remove the
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OPINION OF BOARD:
The dispute is similar to the one in Award 14454
and the claim will be denied for the reasons stated in that Award.
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 not violated.
AWARD
Claim denied.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of THIRD DIVISION
ATTEST: S. H. Schulty
Executive Secretary
Dated at
Chicago, Illinois, this 24th day of May 1966.
Keenan Printing Co., Chicago, Ill. Printed in U.S.A.
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