TRANSPORTATION-COMMUNICATION EMPLOYEES UNION
(Formerly The Order of Railroad Telegraphers)
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the General Committee of The Order of Railroad Telegraphers on the Missouri Pacific Railroad (Gulf District), that:
EMPLOYES STATEMENT OF FACTS: The Traffic Offices of the Missouri Pacific Railroad (Gulf District) located in downtown area of Galveston, Texas, has served as a liaison between the railroad and the public in that area in soliciting traffic and informing the public of traffic moving over the Missouri Pacific and adjoining lines. The personnel in the office is composed of employes wholly within the Traffic Department which is separate from the Communication Department of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad (Gulf District) enters Galveston on a portion of railroad identified as the Galveston, Houston & Harrisburg Railroad. This railroad is jointly owned and operated by the Missouri Pacific and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroads.
On November 1, 1908, this Organization executed an Agreement with the International Great Northern Railroad in establishing an office for the handling of communication in the Traffic Office in Galveston, Texas. This office
the MP had never had a telegrapher located at Galveston. While the Assistant Superintendent Communications was correct in that the MP had never had a telegrapher employed at Galveston it was developed that the International Great Northern Railroad Company had a telegrapher located at Galveston prior to 1920 to handle such Morse communication as may have been necessary. During that period in our history the primary form of rapid communications was Morse wire service which required the services of a skilled Morse telegrapher, as telephones were not in general use for direct conversation. The IGN telegrapher position at Galveston was abolished in 1920 and by arrangement between the MP and the GH&H all wire service that was necessary to be handled for the traffic office at Galveston was handled by GII&H telegraphers at Galveston. This arrangement continued without protest from the Telegraphers' Organization from 1920 until the instant dispute arose, April 17, 1962.
Although the IGN telegrapher position at Galveston appeared in the Telegraphers' Agreement effective October 1, 1918, it does not appear in subsequent revisions of the Agreement in 192.5, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1940 and 1952.
OPINION OF BOARD: At the outset we find the unnamed Claimant issue raised by the Carrier, and in its behalf.
We hold that the Organization's identifying language-"the idle telegrapher (extra in preference) otherwise idle on rest day) in "GC" office, Houston, Texas is sufficiently clear for Carrier purposes of identification.
We are here concerned with Carrier's assertion the controlling agreement "expressly limits its application to employes on Carrier's own lines . . . it does not apply to off-line points, such as Galveston . . .
Carrier also relies on this language of the Scope Rule: "Operators of teletype or other mechanical telegraph transmission or reception appliances located in telegraph offices," and asserts that the teletype here is not in a telegraph office. The Carrier states that prior to March 8, 1962 Missouri Pacific Traffic Representatives used the telegraph facilities of the Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railroad (GH&H) "for whatever wire services were necessary in the conduct of their business, rather than Western Union." This service was performed by GH&H telegraphers by arrangement between the MP and GH&H railroads. (Emphasis theirs.)
Organization states effective March 8, 1962 the Missouri Pacific and the MK&T "elected to abolish a certain number of positions in GH&H office at 44th Street. The remaining forces in the GH&H office could not function with dispatch in the handling of the communication work and as a consequence Missouri Pacific Railroad (Gulf District) installed a teletype machine in the Traffic Office and assigned the duties formerly performed by Telegraphers under our Agreement to Traffic Representative Fattori."
When Organization protested the move, Carrier took the position "this was an off-line Traffic Representative in Galveston, Texas, and therefore it did not have to comply with our Agreement,"
Organization states after the change was made and the call sign of "CO" had been designated for the new office, a completed record of messages sent and received was kept, and "instructions were placed in effect that this new "CO" office was to work with the Wire Chiefs at Houston."
Argument is offered in behalf of the Carrier that "it seems absurd for -the Petitioning Organization even to suggest that GH&H is to be regarded as a mere extension of the respondent, rather than a foreign railroad, for the Petitioner has recognized this foreign nature of GH&H by gaining recog-nition as the bargaining agent on that railroad and negotiating an entirely separate agreement covering its telegraphers . . .
Carrier here has teletype-installed in about forty off-line traffic offices, including Galveston; machines which are operated by Traffic Department personnel who are not subject to any rules agreement.
The teletype machine at Galveston, here subjected to claim is not located in a telegraph office. The Scope Rule covers teletype machines located in telegraph offices.
FINDINGS: The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, 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;