The Agreement between the parties, dated May 1, 1953, as amended and supplemented, is on file with your Board and by this reference is made a part hereof.
These claims were timely presented progressed including conference with the highest officer designated by the Carrier to receive appeals, and have been declined. The Employees, therefore, appeal to your Honorable Board for adjudication.
The claims arose because the Carrier required and permitted the office manager to perform the work of the 1st shift Wire Chief position in the Chicago Relay Office of the Carrier on dates enumerated in the claims when the incumbent of the wire chief position was absent due to personal reasons and there were no qualified extra employees to fill the vacancies. The office manager is a supervisory employee not covered by the Telegraphers' Agreement.
Each of the named claimants is a qualified wire chief, regularly assigned to such position in the Chicago Relay Office, who was observing his rest day and who was available and willing to perform the work of the blanked position. The claim, in each case, is for one day's pay at the time and one-half rate of the first shift wire chief position on each day the office manager performed the work of that position while the regular incumbent was absent, which claimant would have received had he been utilized to fill the vacancy in lieu of the office manager.
Carrier's defense in assigning the office manager to perform the work of the first shift wire chief position on days the regular incumbent was absent may be summarized as follows: (1) Claimants were not qualified and therefore the Office Manager would have assisted in performng the work of the position, and (2) an emergency existed as a result of the absence of the regular incumbent which would have interrupted Carrier's service had the Office Manager not performed the work of the wire chief position.
The currently effective agreement between the parties lists on pages 33, 34 and 35, twenty-one relay offices comprising the Relay Division, listing fifty-five wire chief positions which classification (wire chief) is carried in the scope thereof. Page 3:3 lists the positions in the Chicago General Office (relay), as follows(
The dispute submitted to the Board was handled on the property as four separate claims. These claims were declined by the Carrier's Highest Designated Officer in four separate letters dated October 20, 1967, attached hereto as Carrier's Exhibits 1 through 4, inclusive.
The Schedule of Rules Agreement between the parties, effective May 1, 1953, and amendments thereto, are on file with the Board and are by reference made a part of this submission.
OPINION OF BOARD: The parties are in essential agreement concerning what happened. On the claim dates the first shift Wire Chief requested was granted permission to be absent from his job. However, instead of filling the resulting vacancy, by utilizing rule 22, the Carrier required or premitted the Office Manager to perform the necessary duties.
Claims were filed in favor of two employes in the office who were idle, observing rest days. The claimant in Claim No. 1 is the second shift Wire Chief. The other three instances occured on the rest days of the regular relief employe who relieves the Wire Chiefs on all three shifts. He is named as claimant in those instances, Claim 2, 3, and 4. These claimants were available, and could have worked in the place of the absent Wire Chief.
Carrier's contention that neither of the two claimants is qualified to perform the first shift Wire Chief work is weak. Claimant in Claim No. 1 is the regular assigned second shift Wire Chief in the same office. His duties are continuous with and identical to those of the first shift. It requires the same knowledge and ability to align communication circuits during the evening hours as during the morning. Claimant in Claims No. 2, 3, 4 is the regular assigned rest day relief Wire Chief who works all three shifts. He actually works the first shift every week on Saturdays and Sundays. The same ability is required to align communication circuits on week-ends as on any other day of the week.
Since it is well established that the work of testing and regulating (aligning) telegraph and telephone circuits is work reserved to Wire Chiefs or other employes covered by the telegraphers' agreement and after considering the testimony presented, exhibits introduced and the Agreement Rules For Telegraphers effective May 1, 1953, we sustain the claims.