NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number SG-19760
(Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Chicago and North Western Railway Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood of
Railroad Signalmen on the Chicago and North Western
Railway Company that:
(a) On or about December 24, 1970, the Carrier violated the provisions of the December 23, 1969
December 10, 1970, for M. E. Naber, and D. C. Gordon.
(b) The Carrier now be required to reimburse them for this meal
expense.
/Carrier's File: 79-3-91/
OPINION OF BOARD: The facts in this case are undisputed. Under provisions
of the Memorandum of December 23, 1969 (an amendment to
June 1, 1951 Agreement), Claimants M. E. Naber and D. C. Gordon had break
fast at 6:00 a.m. on December 10, 1970, and reported back to Carrier's
property for the purpose of going to work at 7:00 a.m. Upon arrival at
Carrier's property they found a picket line of another union of employees
which was engaged in a nation-wide rail strike.
It is agreed that this was a legal strike by four other unions and
that Claimants declined to cross the picket line to go to work. It is also
agreed that had they gone to work that day their claim for breakfast expense
would have been unquestioned and would have been paid under provisions of the
Memorandum of December 23, 1969.
The agreed issue is whether or not Claimants were voluntarily
absent from work on the date in question. This issue is not new to the
Board. There was work available for Claimants but they preferred to observe
the picket line. It was strictly a matter of their own choice. It has been
held by the Board that an employee observing a picket line is considered
voluntarily absent from work. (Awards 11102 by McGrath; 14945 by Ives;
17570 by Rohman.)
An employee has every right under the law to refuse to cross an
established picket line; yet, by the same token, there is no provision in
the law requiring him to do so. There is no other conclusion to be reached
but that to cross, or not to cross, a picket line is a voluntary choice.
Award Number 19915 Page 2
Docket Number SG-19760
If an employee chooses to observe the picket line he must bear the consequences. In the instant
line, voluntarily absented themselved from work on the date in question,
thereby forfeiting their right to have their breakfast paid for by Carrier.
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 not violated.
A W A R D
Claims denied.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT
BOARD
By Order of Third Division
ATTEST:
/,
Dated at Chicato, Illinois, this 7th day of September 1973.
..a
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number SG-19760
(Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Chicago and North Western Railway Company
STATEMENT
OF
CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood of
Railroad Signalmen on the Chicago and North Western
Railway Company that:
(a) On or about December 24, 1970, the Carrier violated the provisions of the December 23, 1969
December 10, 1970, for M. E. Naber, and D. C. Gordon.
(b) The Carrier now be required to reimburse them for this meal
expense.
/Carrier's File: 79-3-91/
OPINION
OF
BOARD: The facts in this case are undisputed. Under provisions
of the Memorandum of December 23, 1969 (an amendment to
June 1, 1951 Agreement), Claimants M. E. Naber and D. C. Gordon had break
fast at 6:00 a.m. on December 10, 1970, and reported back to Carrier's
property for the purpose of going to work at 7:00 a.m. Upon arrival at
Carrier's property they found a picket line of another union of employees
which was engaged in a nation-wide rail strike.
It is agreed that this was a legal strike by four other unions and
that Claimants declined to cross the picket line to go to work. It is also
agreed that had they gone to work that day their claim for breakfast expense
would have been unquestioned and would have been paid under provisions of the
Memorandum of December 23, 1969.
The agreed issue is whether or not Claimants were voluntarily
absent from work on the date in question. This issue is not new to the
Board. There was work available for Claimants but they preferred to observe
the picket line. It was strictly a matter of their own choice. It has been
held by the Board that an employee observing a picket line is considered
voluntarily absent from work. (Awards 11102 by McGrath; 14945 by Ives;
17570 by Rohman.)
An employee has every right under the law to refuse to cross an
established picket line; yet, by the same taken, there is no provision in
the law requiring him to do so. There is no other conclusion to be reached
but that to cross, or not to cross, a picket line is a voluntary choice.
Award Number 19915 Page 2
Docket Number SG-19760
If an employee chooses to observe the picket line he must bear the consequences. In the instant
line, voluntarily absented themselved from work on the date in question,
thereby forfeiting their right to have their breakfast paid for by Carrier.
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 not violated.
A W A R D
Claims denied.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
ATTEST:
Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicato, Illinois, this 7th day of September 1973.
i