NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
(Supplemental)
Bill Heskett, Referee
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY AND STEAMSHIP CLERKS,
FREIGHT HANDLERS, EXPRESS AND STATION EMPLOYES
SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
Claim of the System Committee of the
Brotherhood (GL-5915) that:
(a) Carrier violated the Agreement at Richmond, Virginia,
when Mr. I. Y. Cox conducted two investigations, made a tape recording of the testimony and then made up rough drafts of the
proceedings.
(b) Carrier further violated the Agreement when it failed to
use Mr. E. J. Kohl, senior qualified Clerk-Stenographer on the Richmond District, to take notes and transcribe the investigations held
in the office of Trainmaster Cox on September 7 and 18, 1964,
respectively.
(c) Mr. Kohl be properly compensated for September 7 and
September 18, 1964, at the time and one-half rate.
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS: This dispute is between the
Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerics, Freight Handlers, Express
and Station Employes as the representative of the class or craft of employes in which the Claimant in this case held position and the Southern
Railway Company.
Mr. Kohl was employed in the office of Division Superintendent, Richmond, Virginia, until that office was abolished and consolidated with the
office of Division Superintendent, Greensboro, North Carolina, which became the Washington-Richmond-Danville Division. Mr. Kohl then placed
himself on the position of Chief Bill Clerk in the office of Agent, Richmond,
Virginia.
Vacancy Bulletin No. 31, issued under date of October 7, 1958 (Employes'
Exhibit I), advertising position of Clerk-Stenographer, Superintendent's
Office, Richmond, Virginia, lists as part of the preponderating duties:
(b) Machine Operators, all as hereinafter defined
in Rule 2.
It is understood and agreed that the hours of service and working conditions of employes embraced in each respective group above
are subject to the specifications and exceptions hereinafter contained in various rules of this schedule.
* * * * *_
"RULE 3. EFFECTIVE DATE
(Revised, effective October 1, 1938)
This agreement becomes effective October 1, 1938, and supersedes and cancels all former agreements but does not, unless rules
are specifically changed, alter practices or working conditions
established by or under former agreements."
"RULE 24. ABOLISHING POSITIONS
(Effective October 1, 1938)
When forces are reduced, the position to be abolished shall be
the position or positions which are no longer needed; if there be
two or more positions doing the same kind of work paying different rates in the office where such abolishment is to be effected,
the position paying the lowest rate shall be abolished.
Understood and agreed that in reducing clerical forces, where
there are two clerical employes in the same office assigned to the
same class of work, working the same hours and receiving the
same rate of pay, if one of the positions is to be abolished it will
be the position filled by the junior of the two employes."
OPINION OF BOARD:
Trainmaster Cox conducted investigations at
his office and recorded same on a tape recorder. The typewritten transcript was prepared by clerks in the Superintendent's office.
Claimant Kohl, occupant of a position of chief bill clerk, alleges that
Trainmaster Cox performed work accruing to him.
Inasmuch as it is the unrefuted evidence that Trainmaster Cox's actions
were in compliance with the long established practice on the property, it is
not necessary to decide all the arguments of the parties. Suffice it to say
that the Scope Rule here involved is general, and that the Organization
has failed to prove that the work was exclusively done by the clerks. See
Awards 13610 (Hamilton), 12897 (Hall), 11907 (Hall), 12381 (O'Gallagher),
12340 (Stack), 12109 (Sell) and 11864 (Sell). Therefore, the claim is denied.
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FINDINGS: The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, after giving
the parties to this dispute due notice of hearing thereon, and 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;
That this Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the
dispute involved herein; and
That the Carrier did not violate the Agreement.
AWARD
Claim denied.
NATIONAL RAILROAD
ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of THIRD DIVISION
ATTEST: S. H. Schulty
Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 27th day of October 1967.
Keenan Printing Co., Chicago, Ill. Printed in U.S.A.
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