NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
(Supplemental)
Thomas J. $enan, Referee
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
TRANSPORTATION-COMMUNICATION EMPLOYEES UNION
MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the General Committee of the Transportation Communication Employees' Union on the Missouri Pacific Railroad
(Gulf District), that:
1. Carrier violated the Agreement between the parties when, on
November 19, 1964 it required and permitted train service employe on
Train No. 67 to report passing Round Rock, Texas at 12:48 A. M., and
Extra North departing from Round Rock, Texas at 12:54 A. M. The
train dispatcher, located in Palestine, Texas, instructed the telegrapher
at Taylor, Texas to secure said reports directly from train service employe by radio.
2. Carrier shall compensate Agent-Telegrapher L. B. Johnson one
call, three hours at the pro rata pay applicable at Round Rock, Texas,
for depriving Agent-Telegrapher Johnson of work belonging to his
position.
3. Carrier violated the Agreement hetween the parties when on
November 23, 1964, it required and permitted train service employe on
Second 66 to report that train as passing Hutto, Texas, at 1:10 A. M.
This information was secured by Conductor Oden at Taylor, Texas by
radio and reported directly to train dispatcher at Palestine, Texas.
4. Carrier shall compensate the senior idle telegrapher, extra in
preference, eight hours at the pro rata prevailing telegraphers' rate
of pay for the violation at Hutto, Texas.
5. Carrier shall pay six percent per annum on all sums due and
withheld as a result of the above violations.
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS:
Round Rock, Texas is located
on the Austin Subdivision of the Missouri Pacific Railroad approximately 19
miles north of Austin, Texas. There is a communication office maintained at
this point between the hours of 8:00 A. M. and 5:00 P. M. daily except Sunday,
with a meal period between the hours of 12:00 Noon and 1:00 P. M. This is a
We are all
aware of the fact that a train dispatcher cannot prevent train and engine service employes, or other employes for that
matter, from calling him on the telephone and talking to him, which
train and engine service employes often do in connection with the
operation of their trains over the road. In any event, Dispatcher
Bradley accepted no `report' from Conductor Oden and no entry was
made on the train sheet with respect to Second 66 having passed
Hutto at 1:10 A. M.
In view of the foregoing, we can find no justification for changing
the decision declining these claims giving to you in our letter of
April 2, 1965, which is hereby affirmed.
Yours truly,
/s/ B. W. Smith"
OPINION OF BOARD:
This dispute involves two separate claims.
The first claim is that Rule 2 (c) of the Agreement was violated when
an on-duty telegrapher at Taylor, Texas, rather than an off-duty telegrapher
at Round Rock, was utilized by the Palestine dispatcher to radio Train No. 67
at Round Rock for certain information.
Nothing in Rule 2 (c) supports the Employes' position. This claim must
be denied. See Award No. 15740 (Kenan).
The second claim is that Rule 2 (e) was violated when a train conductor.
called at Taylor, Texas for a 12:45 A. M. connection with Train No. 66 there
and waiting in the Taylor station for the arrival of such train, radioed the
train to ascertain its position and then telephoned this information to the
dispatcher.
The Board agrees that such constitutes a violation of Rule 2 (c). See
Award No. 15669 (Kenau), concerning train and engine employes reporting
their own trains. Such reports need not be solicited by a dispatcher. Rule 2(c)
simply prohibits train employes from reporting their own trains to dispatchers.
The fact that the train conductor in this instance had not yet boarded his train
is not regarded as removing this incident from the coverage of Rule 2 (c).
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 violated in one instance (Claim No. 2) and was
not violated in the other instance (Claim No. 1).
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AWARD
The Carrier shall compensate the senior idle telegrapher, extra in preference, eight hours at the pro rata prevailing telegraphers' rate of pay for the
violation that occurred at approximately 1:10 A. M., November 23, 1964, when
Conductor Oden reported the position of Train No. 66 to the dispatcher at
Palestine, Texas.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD,
By Order of THIRD DIVISION
ATTEST: S. H. Schulty
Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 20th day of October 1967.
Keenan Printing Co., Chicago, 111. Printed in U.S.A.
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