NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
(Supplemental)
TRANSPORTATION-COMMUNICATION EMPLOYEES UNION
(Formerly The Order of Railroad Telegraphers)
THE CINCINNATI, NEW ORLEANS AND TEXAS PACIFIC
RAILWAY COMPANY
Carrier violated Article 1, Scope, of the Telegraphers' Agreement when commencing on February 7th, 1962, and continuing thereafter Monday through Saturday of each week it caused, required or permitted Bridge Foreman Frank East, Section Foreman Earl Griffith and Section men Mr. Smith and Mr. Ooten, employes not covered by the Telegraphers' Agreement to communicate with the Train Dispatchers by use of the Company telephone, secure information of record regarding train movements through Twenty-five and Twentysix Tunnels and that they then pass this information on to the crews working for Cowan Construction Company in and around the tunnels and have crews to clear the tracks for trains to pass in doing so the bridge foreman, section foreman and section men are performing block operators duties and that Telegraphers have performed block operators duties since time immemorial it is work that belongs exclusively to Telegraphers given them under the Scope 1 Rule of the Telegraphers' Agreement and also by tradition.
Carrier shall compensate H. C. Miller; D. E. Jeffers, R. D. Wilson, W. H. Green, R. S. Logan, N. Whitaker and G. P. Storey in accordance with Rule 1, Scope, at the rate of pay $2.435 per hour for each and every day with overtime for over 8 hours and Saturday at one and one-half rate of pay, $3.6525 per hour commencing on February 7th, 1962, and continuing thereafter so long as such work is performed by an employe not covered by the Telegraphers' Agreement the claimants herein shall be compensated in the same manner for all subsequent dates the violation of the Agreement is permitted.
3. A claim may be filed at any time for an alleged continuing violation of any agreement and all rights of the claimants or claimants involved thereby shall, under this rule, be fully protected by the filing of one claim or grievance based thereon as long as such alleged violation, if found to be such, continues. However, no monetary claim shall be allowed retroactively for more than 60 days prior to the filing thereof. With respect to claims and grievances involving an employe held out of service in discipline cases, the original notice of request for reinstatement with pay for time lost shall be sufficient."
OPINION OF BOARD: Late in 1961 Maintenance of way employes were used in connection with the enlargement of tunnels 25 and 26. Some of these individuals used the telephone to communicate with train dispatchers to ascertain the approach of trains in order to clear the tunnels of working personnel. The Organization filed the instant claim alleging this to be block operators work which it claims is reserved to telegraphers by the Scope Rule.
It asserts further that since this was a continuing violation this work claim was timely filed, and should be awarded to those employes listed therein.
The Carrier asserts that this claim does not arise from a continuous violation, that the Employes failed to proceed with an earlier claim in timely fashion, and that even if the claim was procedurally correct, it must fail on its merits since the employes concerned were acting in the same fashion as they had for many years regarding train movements through tunnels, and cannot be held to have performed work belonging to the Telegraphers.
Rule 1-Scope states that the parties agreement applies to all block operators.
In the instant case however, there is insufficient proof that the tasks performed were indeed the work of a block operator. Accordingly we find the Employes' claim lacks merit and that therefore there is no need to consider the other issues raised in this case.