NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number SG-19791
(Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Kansas City Terminal Railway Company
STATEMENT OF
CLAIM:
Claim of the General Committee of the Brotherhood of
Railroad Signalmen on the Kansas City Terminal Railway Company:
On behalf of Signalman-Maintainer E. L. Anderson for six (6)
hours' pay at the rate of $6.00 per hour account junior man used to perform overtime from 3:00 P.M.
/Carrier's File: SG-7.71.140/
OPINION OF BOARD: Claimant E. L. Anderson and fellow worker R. L. Kerr
are employes of Carrier in the signalmen class. Claimant Anderson is senior in service to Signalman
Anderson and Kerr were working regularly assigned hours in the same signal
construction gang under the supervision of the same foreman. On that day,
Claimant Anderson was released from service at 3:00 P.M., the end of the
regular assigned work period. Mr. Kerr was held over from 3:00 P.M. to
9:00
P.M.
to flag trains at a work site involving a tower consolidation
program.
On December 2, 1970 Claimant Anderson filed the instant time
claim for the overtime worked by the junior employee, R.
L.
Kerr. Claimant relies primarily upon the express language of Rule 310(e) of the Signalmen's Agreemen
Article III, Rule 310(e) reads as follows:
"When overtime or double time service is required of
a part of a gang, or group of employes, the senior
employes of the gang or group of employes, of the
classification involved, who are available and desire the work, shall have preference to such work
and shall be used."
Carrier resists the claim, contending that on the day in question the signal construction gang had b
several men each to perform separate items of work. Under this rationale,
Claimant Anderson was assigned to fence hole digging and Signalman Kerr
was flagging trains and as such comprised "part of a gang" or a "group"
for purposes of Rule 310(e). Accordingly, Carrier maintains that Kerr
Award Number 20261 Page 2
Docket Number SG-19?^-1
was the senior employe in his "group" who was available and desirous of
performing the overtime. Therefore, Carrier insists that it does not
violate the Agreement to give overtime to the employe working on a particular assignment even if he
his class.
We have considered carefully the Agreement language and the
awards cited. Upon analysis, we are not persuaded that Carrier's innovative reading of Rule 310(e) i
decided on a ground too esoteric for application to the instant claim.
The pertinent Agreement provision clearly mandates that the
senior employe of the gang has the prior right of first refusal when
overtime is required of a part of the gang. (Emphasis added). Concededly, Claimant Anderson w
these circumstances he should have been given preference for such work.
The contract language here under construction is clear and
concise. It does not allude to or even suggest functional subgroupings
for seniority purposes nor can we imbue it with such meaning. As we
stated in Award 16489:
"We have held on any number of occasions that we follow
the basic and ordinary rules of contract interpretation.
We are bound by the terms and provisions of the Agreement
before us. We have no power or authority and we may not
make new provisions, abrogate or alter existing provisions
of the Agreement. That is the province of the parties
themselves. We endeavor to ascertain and to give effect
to the intention of the parties and that intention is to
be deduced from the language employed by them."
Accordingly, the claim must be and is sustained.
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;
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Docket Number SG-19791
That this Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction
over the dispute involved herein; and
That the Agreement was violated.
A W A R D
Claim sustained.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
ATTEST: Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 31st day of May 1974.
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