KIV995, advertised a B&B carpenter position and failed to award

same to Carpenter Helper F. Zamora who timely and properly

submitted a bid for said position and was thereby deprived of an

opportunity to qualify therefor (Carrier's File 930606 MPR).

(2) As a consequence of the violation referred to in Part (1) above, Claimant F. Zamora shall be compensated for:

Parties to said dispute were given due notice of hearing thereon.

F. Zamora (Claimant) established and holds seniority as a Helper in the Bridge and Building (B&B) Subdepartment, and was working as such at the time of this dispute.

In April 1993, Carrier advertised, under Bulletin #HIV995, four B&B Mechanic vacancies on Gang 3005 at Bay City, Texas. On April 22, 1993, Claimant applied for one of the positions. However, on April 26,1993, Carrier canceled all four positions due to "no qualified bidders."

"Time is being claimed on behalf ofFelipeZamora for the difference in rate of pay and any time lost as a result of not being assigned as B&B Carpenter beginning April 26, 1993, as a Carpenter.

Claimant a B&B helper, bid on Bulletin KIV995 for a B&B Carpenter. When the assignments came out on April 26, 1993, this bulletin was cancelled account no qualified bidders. Although Mr. Zamora had not already established Carpenter's rights, he was the oldest helper on the Kingsville Division and should have been afforded the opportunity to qualify as Carpenter.

We contend that rules of our agreements have been violated, especially Rules 1, 2, 10 and 11 of our current working agreement."

Carrier denied the claim, maintaining that on May 6, 1991, Claimant was disqualified as a Carpenter, and therefore, Carrier did not receive bids from any qualified personnel for Bulletin HIV995. According to Carrier, Claimant was treated "well within" the guidelines of the Agreement. Carrier pointed specifically to Rule 10(a) which stipulates that:

"Promotions shall be based on the ability, merit, and seniority. Ability and merit being sufficient, seniority shall prevail, management to be the judge subject to appeal."

The General Chairman responded, contending that Claimant's disqualification of some two years ago should have "absolutely no bearing" on his right to the promotion in dispute. The General Chairman went on to note that Carrier had selectively quoted the portion of Rule 10 to "fit its own interpretation," pointing instead to paragraph (d) of Rule 10 which provides:

"Employees accepting promotions and failing to qualify within thirty (30) days, may return to their former position without loss of seniority."

The General Chairman pointed out that Carrier did not know if Claimant was qualified for the Carpenter position because he was not given the opportunity to prove himself "as seniority provides."

In the meantime, during October 1993, Carrier re-advertised B&B Mechanic vacancies under Bulletin #HIV01065. Claimant applied for one of those vacancies and although he had not had any substantially greater experience in October than he had a few months earlier, Carrier awarded him the position, effective October 15,1993. There is no dispute that Claimant worked as a B&B Helper for a number of years. The duties encompassed in that position are to assist the B&B Carpenter and to participate in onthe-job tra recognized in October 1993, but not in April 1993, that a disqualification several years earlier was now irrelevant.

Carrier advertised four B&B Carpenter positions in Bulletin #HIV995. Although Carrier received Claimant's bid for one of the positions, it failed to award Claimant the position due to his "lack of qualifications." Six months later, with no appreciable change in Claimant's qualifications, Carrier found him qualified and awarded him the position. The Organization persuasively demonstrated that Carrier's actions deprived Claimant of more than six months of B&B Carpenter seniority. If he was qualified in October he was at least sufficiently qualified in April, when he first bid for the position, to be given the opportunity contemplated by Rule 10 (d), supra.