NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number TE-20133
Irving T. Bergman, Referee
(Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship
( Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and
( Station Employes (formerly Transportation( Communication Division, BRAC)
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Maine Central Railroad Company
( Portland Terminal Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the General Committee of the Transports.
tion-Communication Division, BRAC, on the Portland
Terminal Company, TC-5870, that:
Carrier violated Article 9 of the January 1, 1951 Agreement
when they required claimant to perform work at third trick Rigby Telegraph Office on September 3, 19
claimant was required to move from his regular assignment to cover
this assignment at third trick Rigby Telegraph Office and violated
Article 4 when claimant was not paid the days pay provided for on his
regular assigned hours at his regular assigned location. Carrier
shall be required to compensate claimant (B.L. Corkrey) eight hours
pro rata rate Tower Two in addition to compensation paid him for
working third trick Rigby Telegraph Office for this violation.
OPINION OF BOARD: Claimant was regularly to work the third trick
at Tower Two. When he reported for work at his
regular location, Carrier moved claimant to the third trick at the
telegraph office to cover the vacancy created when the Carrier used
the regularly assigned employe as a dispatcher to cover a vacancy
in that position. The Carrier contended that this was an emergency
because an available spare man was not qualified to cover the vacancy
created and a regular man on his rest day was called but did not
respond. The Carrier also argued that it maintained a sufficient
number of spare men to meet the reasonable demands of the service
consistent with the opportunity to provide spare men with enough
work to earn a living. The Organization's position is that the
facts do not add up to an emergency as provided by the Rules.
Article 4 provides in part that: "A regularly assigned
employe shall receive one day's pay within each twenty-four (24)
hour period, according to position occupied or to which entitled,
if ready for service and not used,--."
Award Number 20150 Page 2
Docket Number TE-20133
Article 15 provides in part that: "A regularly assigned
employe will not be required to perform service on other than his
position except in an emergency."
Article 35 provides in part that: "Sufficient spare
employes will be supplied to
meet all
reasonable demands."
A number of prior Awards have reached the conclusion
expressed in Award 17737, that: "The nonavailability of personnel
for various reasons--is a constant, never ending situation, which
must always be anticipated by Carrier."
An emergency is defined as an unforeseen combination of
circumstances. The facts of this case do not meet the requirements
of the definition.
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
That this Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction
over the dispute involved herein; and
The Carrier violated the Agreement.
A W A R D
Claim sustained.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
ATTEST:
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Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 28th day of February 1974.