Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
Award No. 32527
Docket No. SG-32861
98-3-96-3-211

The Third Division consisted of the regular members and in addition Referee Elizabeth C. Wesman when award was rendered.

(Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen PARTIES TO DISPUTE: (CSX Transportation, Inc. (former Baltimore and ( Ohio Railroad Company)

STATEMENT OF CLAIM:



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. 32527
Page 2 Docket No. SG-32861
98-3-96-3-211

The Claimant in this case was assigned to a position in the Lead Signalman/ Signalman class at Carrier's Consolidated Signal Shop. On April 24, 1995, the employee assigned to the B&O allocated Foreman's position vacated that position. The Carrier did not bulletin the position. The Organization presented a claim on June 5, 1995 alleging that the Carrier violated the 1987 Signal Shop Implementing Agreement when it did not advertise the vacant Foreman's position. The Carrier responded that, while Section 4 of the Implementing Agreement provided that three Foreman positions would be allocated for initial filling, nothing in the Agreement required that Carrier maintain all three positions.


A careful review of the record indicates that nothing in the Implementing Agreement signed by the Parties requires that Carrier maintain its force at the level initially established. The Organization cited Section 25 of the Agreement in support of its position. That section provides that in the event of abolishment of positions or force reductions, the position of the junior employee in the class of work involved will be abolished first. In the instant case, however, the employee formerly occupying the position voluntarily vacated it, removing the necessity of Carrier's selecting the position occupied by the junior employee for abolishment. Accordingly, the provisions of Section 25 are inapplicable.








This Board, after consideration of the dispute identified above, hereby orders that an award favorable to the Claimant(s) not be made.



                      By Order of Third Division


Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 25th day of March 1998.