Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
Award No. 30264
Docket No. MW-30173
94-3-91-3-617
The Third Division consisted of the regular members and in
addition Referee Hugh G. Duffy when award was rendered.
(Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Union Pacific Railroad Company (former
(Missouri Pacific Railroad Company)
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "Claim of the System Committee of the
Brotherhood that:
(1) The Agreement was violated when the Carrier
assigned outside forces (Marlatt Contracting)
to perform weed mowing work on the Concordia
Subdivision at Mile Post 408.8, Frankfort,
Kansas, Mile Post 425.6, Blue Rapids, Kansas,
and Mile Post 430.5, Waterville, Kansas, on
August 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, 1990 (Carrier's
File 910002 MPR).
(2) The Agreement was further violated when the Carrier
failed to furnish the General Chairman with proper
advance written notice of its intention to contract
out said work as required by article IV of the May
17, 1986, National Agreement.
(3) As a consequence of the violations referred to
in Parts (1) and/or (2) above, Omaha Division
Machine Operator J. L. Hardenberger shall be
allowed eight (8) hours' pay at the applicable
machine operator's rate of pay plus any
overtime worked by the outside forces on the
days listed in Part (1) above."
FINDINGS:
The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, upon the whole
record and all the evidence, finds that:
The carrier or carriers and the employee or employees involved
in this dispute are respectively carrier and employee 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.
Form 1 Award No. 30264
Page 2 Docket No. MW-30173
94-3-91-3-617
Parties to said dispute waived right of appearance at hearing
thereon.
After first serving notice on the Organization of its intent
to subcontract, the Carrier proceeded to utilize an outside
contractor to cut brush at various locations on the Concordia
Subdivision. The organization contends that this work has been
customarily and traditionally assigned to and performed by its
members, and that the Carrier violated Article IV of the National
Agreement when it contracted out the work.
Article IV of the National Agreement is pertinent to a
resolution of this dispute, and reads as follows:
" ARTICLE TV - CONTRACTING OUT
In the event a carrier plans to contract out
work within the scope of the applicable
schedule agreement, the carrier shall notify
the General Chairman of the organization
involved in writing as far in advance of the
date of the contracting transaction as is
practicable and in any event not less than 15
days prior thereto.
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
representatives 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.
Nothing in this Article IV shall affect the
existing rights 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."
Form 1 Award No. 30264
Page 3 Docket No. MW-30173
94-3-91-3-617
The issue presented in this dispute has been addressed by the
Board on numerous occasions. For example, in Third Division Award
29037, the Board concluded:
"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
outsideforces 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 Article IV 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
Claim denied.
O R D 8 R
This Board, after consideration of the dispute identified
above, hereby orders that an award favorable to the Claimant(s) not
be made.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 19th day of July 1994.