Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
Award No. 32646
Docket No. MW-32366
98-3-95-3-186

The Third Division consisted of the regular members and in addition Referee Gerald E. Wallin when award was rendered.

(Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes PARTIES TO DISPUTE:


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.
Form 1 Award No. 32646
Page 2 Docket No. MW-32366
98-3-95-3-186

This Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute involved herein.




Carrier assigned certain members of Track Maintenance Gang 6708 to perform flagging work for contractor forces that were hired to build the grade for a siding extension. Flagging was done to ensure that the contractor's equipment did not foul Carrier's main line or otherwise jeopardize safety.


The claim does not challenge the use of the Maintenance Gang members to perform flagging during regular working hours. Rather, it seeks compensation only for the overtime hours worked. In support of the claim, the Organization cited several provisions of the Agreement that, it said, unambiguously justified its position. Carrier, to the contrary, maintained there was no Agreement violation or other impropriety.


In work jurisdiction matters of this kind, the moving party bears a heavy burden of proof to establish the merits of its claim. Our review of the Agreement provisions cited by the Organization does not reveal any language that explicitly entitles Claimants to the work in dispute to the exclusion of all others. Moreover, there is no proof in the record to show such entitlement by custom, tradition or historical practice. Accordingly, we must conclude that the Organization has failed to sustain its burden of proof.








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


                      NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD

                      By Order of Third Division


Dated at Chicago, Illinois. this 20th day of July 1998.