" RULE 52, CONTRACTING

(a) By Agreement between the Company andthe

General Chairman work customarily performed by

employees covered under this Agreement may be

let to contractors and performed by

contractors' forces. However, such work may

only be contracted provided that special

skills not possessed by the Company's

employees, special equipment not owned by the

Company, or special material available only

when applied or installed through supplier,

are required: or when work is such that the

company is not adequately equipped to handle

the work, or when emergency time requirements

exist which present undertakings not

contemplated by the Agreement and beyond the

capacity of the Company's forces. In the

event the Company plans to contract out work

because of one of the criteria described

herein, it shall notify the General Chairman

of the Organization in writing as far in

advance of the date of the contracting

transaction as is practicable and in any event

not less than fifteen (15) days prior thereto,

except in 'emergency time requirements' cases.

If the General chairman, or his

representative, requests a meeting to discuss

matters relating to the said contracting

transaction, the designated representative of

the Company shall promptly meet with him for

that purpose. Said Company and organization

representative shall make a good faith attempt

to reach an understanding concerning said

contracting but if no understanding is reached

the Company may nevertheless proceed with said

contracting, and the Organization may file and

progress claims in connection therewith.

(b) Nothing contained in this rule shall affect prior and existing rights and practices of either party in connection with contracting out. Its purpose is to require the Carrier to give advance notice and if requested, to meet with the General Chairman or his representative to discuss and if possible reach an understanding in connection therewith.

(d) Nothing contained in this rule shall impair the Company's right to assign work not customarily performed by employees covered by this Agreement to outside contractors."

"The Scope Rule is a general Rule and the on-property record is conclusive that the work has not been "customarily" performed by employees. The letters submitted by B&B Painters do not refute the Carrier's evidence that it utilized outside forces for decades to perform work which included painting. The organization's rebuttal on the property of the sixty-four year record, including the point that the Omaha headquarters was painted by outside contractors only three times in that period, is not on point. It is central to this dispute that proof has been presented by the Carrier that outside forces historically painted buildings, including the Headquarters Building. This probative evidence removes this work from that which the Carrier is restricted from contracting out and is required to give advance notice."

Numerous decisions of the Board have held that the Carrier has the right under Sections (b) and (d) of Rule 52 to contract out work where advance notice is given and the Carrier has established a mixed past practice of contracting out work similar to that involved in the dispute. The record in this case demonstrates a mixed practice on this property with respect to the work in question. It has been performed by members subject to the Agreement in the past but has also been contracted out by the Carrier in the past. We thus conclude that the Carrier did not violate the Agreement when it contracted out the work.

AWARD