NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
Form 1 THIRD DIVISION Award No. 30032
Docket No. MW-29467
94-3-90-3-396
The Third Division consisted of the regular members and in
addition Referee Herbert L. Marx, Jr. when award was rendered.
(Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Union Pacific Railroad Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "Claim of the System Committee of the
Brotherhood that:
(1) The Agreement was violated when the carrier assigned or otherwise permitted outside forces (Neos
Construction Company) to perform track construction
work, i.e., laying track panels, dumping ballast,
installing switch ties, construction of switches
and other related work at the Ford Auto unloading
facility at Mira Loma, California beginning on
April 1, 1989 and continuing (System File S-178/
890598).
(2) The Agreement was further violated when the Carrier
failed to give the General Chairman prior advance
written notice of its plans to contract out the
work involved here, in accordance with Rule 52 and
the December 11, 1981 Letter of Agreement.
(3) As a consequence of the violation referred to in
Parts (1) and/or (2) above, California Division
Track Subdepartment Track Machine Operator F.
Stephens, Track Foreman K. A. Kranda, Extra Gang
Laborers J. L. Gutierrez, G. Tso, A. Tso, T. M.
Cuverwell and M. F. Dutson shall each be allowed:
' ..at his applicable straight time rate
three hundred and twelve (312) hours' pay
as compensation for loss of work opportunity on regular days of assignment plus
sixteen (16) hours' pay at the time and
one-half (1 1/2) rate of pay for work on
rest days starting on April 1, 1989.
This claim is considered to be continuous
for future dates for all track construction related work done by Neosho Construction Co. Inc. in beh
as the work is still being performed by
outside forces. Additionally, in an
effort to make claimants whole for all
Form 1 Award No. 30032
Page 2 Docket No. MW-29467
94-3-90-3-396
losses suffered, we are also claiming
that the carrier must treat Claimants as
an employes (sic) who render service on
the days mentioned herein qualifying them
for vacation credit days, railroad re
tirement credits, additional insurance
coverage and any and all other benefits
entitlements accrued because they will
become furloughed because contractors are
taking their work opportunity."'
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 employe 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.
This dispute would appear simply to concern whether or not the
Carrier is in violation of the Agreement by the contracting of work
in connection with the auto unloading facility in Mira Loma,
California. In this connection, the Carrier wrote the General
Chairman on three occasions between November 1, 1988 and February
27, 1989, as to its intention to "solicit bids" for various phases
of the construction of the facility. The Claim is not related to
the overall project but is limited to track construction work.
Submissions to the Board by both parties deal extensively with
the question of Scope Rule coverage, the concept of exclusivity as
to performance of such work, alleged past practice, and interpretation of the Agreement provisions c
to outside forces. These arguments have been reviewed by the Board
in numerous other Awards and require no further comment here. This
is the case because there is an element involved here which is
determinative.
This factor has to do with the carrier's assertion that, while
much of the work in preparation for the Mira Loma facility was
performed by carrier forces and/or under the Carrier's control,
other portions, including the track construction work in question,
Form 1 Award No. 30032
Page 3 Docket No. MW-29467
94-3-90-3-396
were not under the control of the Carrier. Such assertion was made
at each step of the claim handling procedure. As an example, the
appeal response of the Assistant Director, Labor Relations stated:
"During conference you were again advised that
the work in question and this project were
under the control of Ford Motor Company. Ford
Motor Company hired the general contractor,
Commerce Construction Company. Neosho Construction Company was a sub-contractor for
portions of the overall work contracted to
Commerce Construction. Neosho was not contracted
by
union Pacific but was subcontracted by Commerce Construction Company for Ford
Motor Company."
The Board perceives no convincing contradiction to these
assertions in the record of the dispute.
Thus, the essence of the matter is that the work was not under
the control of the carrier and not for its primary benefit (except
insofar as it represented a means to obtain additional freight
traffic). Third Division Award 24078 is a denial Award in an
instance in which "the Board again considers the question of a
carrier's responsibility to the organization and the employees it
represents as a result of work performed by an outside contractor
under such contractor's arrangement with a third party." That
Award cites a number of other Awards to the same effect. The Board
here follows its previous reasoning that the Carrier may not be
found in Rule violation in these circumstances.
A W A R D
Claim denied.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
Attest:
Catherine Loughrin6~ Interim secretary to the Board
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 17th day of February 1994.