Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD Award No. 28930
THIRD DIVISION Docket No. CL-29274
91-3-90-3-173
The Third Division consisted of the regular members and in
addition Referee Robert W. McAllister when award was rendered.
(Transportation Communications International Union
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Chicago S Illinois Midland Railway Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "Claim of the System Committee of the Organization
(GL-10425) that:
1. Carrier violated the Agreement when it used junior employes to
Messrs. R. P. Wickman and R. A. Keeler; namely, M. M. Cowan, W. J. Hughes and
W. G. Imlay at the punitive rate of pay on the date of May 7, 1988 at the
Havana Coal Transfer Plant, Hayana, Illinois.
2. Carrier's action in the instant case violated the TCU Agreement,
Supplement No. 10 contained therein.
3. Carrier shall now be required to compensate senior employes Mr. R.
P. Wickman and Mr. R. A. Keeler for eight (8) hours each at the punitive rate
of pay of Master Mechanic for the date of May 7, 1988."
FINDINGS:
The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, upon the whole record
and all the evidence, finds that:
The carrier or carriers and the employe or employes involved in this
dispute are respectively carrier and employes within the meaning of the
Railway Labor Act as approved June 21, 1934.
This Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the
dispute involved herein.
Parties to said dispute waived right of appearance at hearing
thereon.
On the date of Claim, the Carrier required three (3) Master Mechanics
to remain at work beyond the end of their shift at the Havana Coal Transfer
Plant. This additional service was required due to the need to change a conveyor belt. Following the
3:30 P.M. to 12:00 Midnight with a thirty (30) minute unpaid meal break. The
Organization submits Claimants who are Master Mechanics senior to those who
worked and were observing their rest days should have been called for this
overtime work.
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The Organization bases its Claim on Supplement No. 10, an Agreement
dated March 8, 1979. Specifically, it relies upon Section V.-O., which reads:
"Casual or unassigned overtime, continuous with, but
following the regular shift, of four (4) hours or
less will be filled by continuing the regularly assigned employes on duty. If more than four (4) hou
additional work is required on days where only one
shift is assigned to work, employes will be called to
fill needed positions as provided in Section II.-A."
Section II.A of Supplement No. 10 establishes the procedure for filling short vacancies (one day
"a. If position cdn be blanked it will be blanked.
b. Upgrade senior qualified laborer, on that shift.
c. Call senior qualified furloughed employe (Havana
headquarter point), who has filed a furlough form
indicating he desires to be considered available
for extra and relief work and who does not have
40 hours work in the work week. (See Section
V.-G. 6 H.).
d. Call senior qualified unassigned employe at Havana,
who has not yet filed a furlough form, and who does
not have 40 hours work in the work week. (See
Section V.-G. 6 H.).
e. Call senior qualified employe (on other shifts), who
has requested overtime work, following the procedures
in Section IV. (See Section V.-I 6 J.).
f. Call senior qualified employe (on other shifts), who
has not requested overtime work, following the procedures in Section IV. (See Section V.-I. 6 J.).
g. Emergency procedures. (See Section V.-L.)."
The Organization asserts the Carrier knew the overtime would extend
beyond four hours. It furnished the Carrier with the following statement from
the three employees who performed the overtime work:
"This is a statement made at the request of Local Chairman B. P. Whitacre. on May 7, 1988, Assis
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to work through the 2nd shift assisting the outside con
struction employes who were splicing the South Main Con
veyor. Mr. G. Weaver was asked at this time if he could
be available to work at midnight if needed; it was known
at this time that the splicing was going to take until at
least 10:30 PM. to finish."
The Organization argues the Carrier was thus required to utilize
employees as if it were a short vacancy; i.e., on a seniority basis. The
Claimants, it concludes, would have been entitled to have been called.
The Carrier responds by noting Supplement
No.
LO was written at a
time when the Havana facility was operating on a multiple shift basis. Because it was a single shift
asserts the provisions of the Agreement which refer to using employees from
other shifts are no longer applicable. In any case, the Carrier maintains the
Claimants were not assigned to another shift. The Organization has rebutted
this argument by asserting the york was performed during the hours of what is
customarily known as second shift.
The Carrier cites Awards 14 and 21 of Public Law Board
No.
2011,
between these parties, as evidence there is no other provision regarding the
allocation of overtime on a seniority basis. It further notes the Organization served a Section 6 No
provide as follows:
"Seniority rights of employes shall govern in the
filling of vacancies, new positions and displacements of junior employes, and to the performance
of overtime work as provided for in this agreement."
According to the Carrier, the Organization was unsuccessful at obtaining this Rule at the bargai
this Claim. Finally, the Carrier asserts it has regularly held employees more
than four hours after their shift and has submitted payroll records to document this practice.
Our analysis of this dispute must begin with Section V.-O. of Supplement No. 10. Clearly, the se
provision. The work was casual or unassigned overtime in that it was not part
of any employee's regular assignment. Furthermore, the facts establish it was
continuous with, but following the regular work shift. Had it been for four
hours or less, the Carrier certainly could have held the regularly assigned
employees on duty. But, in this case, it was eight hours. Further, the unrefuted statement from the
sentence in Section V.-0., therefore, is applicable. More than four hours
additional work was required on a day where only one shift was assigned to
work. Therefore, we must look to Section II.-A. for the procedure for filling
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the vacancies. This provision requires the Carrier to treat the overtime as
if it were a one day, or short, vacancy.
Notwithstanding the Carrier's assertion the Agreement was written
with a multiple shift operation in mind, the fact that the facility is operating on a single shift b
significant that the parties referred to this provision in the filling of overtime positions "on day
it was intended to apply in the case herein.
We do not agree with Carrier's argument that Claimants should not
have stood for the overtime work because they were employed on the same shift
as those who were held over and not "on other shifts" as specified in Paragraphs e. or f.
In a two shift operation with no furloughed employees, a short vacancy occurring on the second s
A"
employee from the
first shift; i.e., an employee 'from another shift. This would have to be the
case because the second shift employees would already be at work. Thus, the
term "other shifts" in this context means shifts other than those on which the
vacancy occurred.
The Agreement requires calling the senior employee who was not scheduled to work during the hour
The Carrier, therefore, was obligated to call the senior qualified employees
for the overtime.
We do not find the Carrier's payroll records to be evidence this
interpretation is inconsistent with past practice. It is possible to hold
employees over and still be in compliance with the Rule. For instance, some
records indicate all employees worked in excess of four hours. Seniority, in
such a case, would not be an issue. On other dates, qualifications or availability may have entered
employee. Absent further information, we cannot reach any conclusions from
these records.
For the reasons stated herein, we find the Agreement was violated.
As Claimants did not perform service, however, they will be compensated eight
(8) hours at the straight time rate in accordance with previous Awards of this
Board, as well as Award
2
of Public Law Board No.
2011
between these parties.
A W A R D
Claim sustained in accordance with the Findings.
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NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
Attest:
ancy J. r - Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 29th day of August 1991.