Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
Award No. 42564 Docket No. SG-43171 17-3-NRAB-00003-150417
The Third Division consisted of the regular members and in addition Referee Roger K. MacDougall when award was rendered.
(Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen PARTIES TO DISPUTE: (
(Union Pacific Railroad Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
"Claim on behalf of the General Committee of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen on the Union Pacific Railroad:
Claim on behalf of H.S. Alcorn, R.C. Anderson, J.L. Brock, S.A. Brubaker, M.P. Oberg, G.L. Reitz, G.D. Salazar, S.D. Silva, N.R. Slim, G.L. Walls, R.A. Ybarra, D.L. York, and P. Zarate; for compensation of $200.00 per month each, beginning on March 6, 2014, and continuing until this dispute is resolved, account Carrier violated the current Signalmen's Agreement, particularly Rules 29 and 65, when it discontinued paying each Claimant the $200.00 monthly payment stipulated in Rule 29, Note 1, of the Agreement. Carrier's File No. 1605149. General Chairman's File No. UPGCW29-65-0178. BRS File Case No. 15151-UP."
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.
Parties to said dispute were given due notice of hearing thereon.
Award No. 42564 Docket No. SG-43171 17-3-NRAB-00003-150417 This case involves the "California Allowance." According to the Organization, this allowance was intended to compensate employees who gave up their prior-righted seniority on their smaller seniority districts to form one large California District. These employees, allegedly both past and future, were allowed a $200.00 per month allowance for this benefit if they held seniority on the California District and were actively working.
However, prior to getting to the Rules involved in the merits of the case, the Carrier raises a preliminary procedural issue dealing with the timeliness of the claims.
It is the Carrier's position that the Organization failed to comply with the requirements of the parties' Agreement when it did not cite the date upon which the claim or grievance was based. Rule 56 (Claims and Grievances) states that the Organization has to file in writing its claim "within 60 days from the date of the occurrence on which the claim or grievance is based."
A careful review of the Organization's May 5, 2014 claim, and all of the material before the Board, establishes that the Organization never identified the date of occurrence upon which the claim was based. The Carrier views this as a fatal procedural flaw.
This Board agrees. Given that there has been a failure to follow the procedure agreed to by the parties, the Board has no option but to dismiss these claims without being able to get to the merits of the arguments.
AWARD
Claim denied.
ORDER
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 6th day of March 2017.