(Union Pacific Railroad Company

1. The Agreement was violated when the Carrier assigned outside forces (Nielson Construction Company) to perform Maintenance of Way work (operate equipment to perform dirt work, cleanup, dressing slopes and placing rip-rap on creek banks) in the vicinity of Mile Post 2.66 on the Sunny Side Branch in the vicinity of Price, Utah commencing on November 26 and continuing through December 5, 2000, instead of Roadway Equipment Operators F. D. Ward, A. T. Matthews, S. P. Larsen and O. R. Ratliff (System File D-01-05C/1259844).

2. The Agreement was further violated when the Carrier failed to furnish the General Chairman with an advance written notice of its intention to contract out said work and failed to make good a good-faith effort to reduce the incidence of contracting out scope covered work and increase the use of its Maintenance of Way forces as required by Rule 52 and the December 11, 1981 Letter of Understanding.

3. As a consequence of the violations referred to in Parts (1) and/or (2) above, Claimant F. D. Ward shall be compensated for fortyone (41) hours' pay at his respective time and one-half rate of

hours' pay at his respective time and one-half rate of pay."

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.

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

Beginning November 26 and continuing through December 5, 2000, the Carrier assigned an outside contractor to restore a bridge that had been destroyed by fire. The circumstance giving rise to this work was aptly described by the Carrier as follows:

"As a result of my investigation into the merit of your claim, this work was associated with a fire that destroyed a bridge on the Sunny Side Branch. This branch is the track that leads to the LandFill for ECDC, which disposes of the trash for the City of Salt Lake, and is rail served. This was an extreme emergency: the bridge had to be replaced ASAP, and the Carrier did not have the machinery to do the work of

In the instant matter, the Carrier asserts that under the facts of this case it was not under any obligation to provide the General Chairman with the foregoing Rule 52 notice because of the existence of a genuine emergency. A review of Third Division Awards supports the conclusion that any claimed emergency must be bona fide where time is of the essence thereby rendering the Carrier's obligation to supply a Rule 52 notice impractical given the exigencies that then exist. Accordingly, it must be determined if a genuine "emergency" existed at the relevant time period. (See Third Division Award 20527.)

The Board reviewed the record and finds that the circumstances giving rise to the disputed work constituted an emergency. In this regard, time was of the essence in rebuilding the destroyed bridge that provided access to a land fill used for the disposal of trash for the City of Salt Lake. Accordingly, because, as noted above, Rule 52(c) provides that the Carrier need not provide notice to the Organization when it contracts out work associated with an emergency, no violation of Rule 52(c) occurred and the Carrier had no contractual obligation to utilize its own forces to replace the bridge. (See Third Division Awards 29965, 29999, 30000 and onproperty Award 32097.)

(02-3-234)

Claim denied.

ORDER