NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
(Supplemental)
John H. Dorsey, Referee
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
TRANSPORTATION-COMMUNICATION EMPLOYEES UNION
(Formerly The Order of Railroad Telegraphers)
LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
Claim of the General Committee of The Order
of Railroad Telegraphers on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, that:
1. Carrier is in violation of the terms and intent of an Agreement between the parties, which provided for the consolidation of
maintenance forces in Nashville Terminal (Nashville, Tennessee) and
letters of agreement thereon by General Chairman Burch and
McWhorter dated January 4 and 16, 1960, respectively, when, effective at the close of work on Friday, August 31, 1962, it unilaterally
abolished the L&N telephone helper position occupied by W. C. Hayes.
2. Carrier shall, because of the violations set out in paragraph
one hereof, re-establish said telephone helper position and compensate W. C. Hayes and/or any other employe displaced by him, including the senior employe displaced from the line gang, and thereby
deprived of employment, commencing sixty (60) days prior to
February 11, 1963 (the date of the filing of this claim) a day's (8
hours) pay for each work day pro rated on the basis of $400.46 per
month, and so long thereafter as the violation herein complained of
continues to exist.
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS: There is in evidence an Agreement by and between the Louisville d; Nashville Railroad Company, hereinafter
referred to as Carrier and its telephone and telegraph maintenance and construction employes, hereinafter rei'erred to as employes, represented by The
Order of Railroad Telegraphers, hereinafter referred to as Organization, effective July 1, 1956, as amended.
Attached hereto and made a part hereof as Exhibit A is a copy of
Memorandum of Agreement between said Carrier and said employes in connection with a merger of the Carrier and the Nashville, Chattanooga & St.
Louis Railway Company, effective June 18, 7958.
Also attached hereto and made a part hereof as Exhibit B is a copy of a
Memorandum of Agreement between Carrier and its telephone, telegraph,
General Chairman Warren extending the provisions of the June 18,
1958 agreement to L&N and NC&StL district employes working
under the T&'T agreements. For ready reference, copies of these two
agreements are attached hereto. In other words, at the time the helper
position was abolished effective August 3.1, 1962, we had effected an
agreement covering T&T employes who might be adversely affected
because of the merger. The abolishment of the helper position, however, was in no way connected with the merger of the two railroads. To the contrary, this position was abolished along with a
number of other helper positions over the entire system in reorganization of the telephone department. For instance, the bulletin abolishing the helper position at Nashville also covered abolishment of helper
positions at Clarksville and McKenzie, Tennessee, and as you know,
helper positions were also abolished at numerous other points where
no merger of L&N and NC&StL employes was involved.
I trust that with this further explanation you will agree there
was no violation of the letter understanding or any other provision
of the T&T agreement when the position of telephone helper was
abolished at Nashville and that the claim will be withdrawn. Otherwise, my declination of June 19, 1963, must stand as I can see no basis
for the claim under the agreement or otherwise.
Yours truly,
/s/ W. S. Scholl
Dir. of Personnel"
On December 5, 1963, the General Chairman replied to the Director of
Personnel's letter of November 14, 1963, in which he still contended the claim
was not barred by time limit rule, stated he could not agree with position
taken by the Carrier in declining it, and gave notice that the claim was being
appealed to President Leighty for further handling. Copy of the General
Chairman's letter of December 5, 1963, is attached as Carrier's Exhibit DD.
This completed handling on the property.
(Exhibits not reproduced.)
OPINION OF BOARD:
On August 31, 1962, Carrier abolished the job
of Telephone Operator held by Claimant. Petitioner, alleging this action to be
a violation of the Agreement, filed Claim on February 11, 1963. Carrier, at
all stages of the handling on the property, denied the Claim for the given
reason that it was not filed within 60 days of the occurrence of the alleged
violation as required by Rule 33(a). It now moves that the Claim be dismissed. Petitioner contends that the Claim is for a continuing violation
within the purview of Rule 33(e) and therefore timely filed.
This Board has consistently held since Award No. 10532 that a job
abolishment is not a continuing claim within the contemplation of Rule 33(e).
Carrier's motion to dismiss is granted.
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;
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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 Claim was not timely filed within the time limitation prescribed
in Rule 33(a) of the Agreement; and, we are compelled to dismiss.
AWARD
Claim dismissed.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of THIRD DIVISION
ATTEST: S. H. Schulty
Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 30th day of June 1967.
Keenan Printing Go., Chicago, Ill. Printed in U.S.A.
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