Award No. 482
Case No. MW-59-W
SPECIAL BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT N0. 605
PARTIES) BROTHERHOOD OF MAINTENANCE OF WAY EMPLOYES
TO THE ) and
DISPUTE) BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY
QUESTION AT ISSUE
Is Section Laborer R. H. Ferguson entitled to the monthly wage
guarantee for February and March of 1987 under Article IV of the
February 7, 1965 Agreement due to the abolishment of his position
at Othello, Washington, when the Carrier sold the former Chicago,
Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company Main Line and
affiliated trackage between Warden, Washington, and Othello,
Washington, to the Washington Central Railroad?
OPINION OF THE BOARD:
Claimant entered the service of the Milwaukee Railroad ("Milwaukee
Road") on May 8, 1958.
The Milwaukee Road went bankrupt in 1977 and was reduced from a
transcontinental railroad to a midwestern railroad. The Rock Island
Railroad was also for sale at this time. Ordinarily, the New York Dock
Labor Protection provisions would have applied to employes of these railroads. In order to make the purchase of the two railroads more attractive,
a Labor Protective Agreement was entered into on March 4, 1980 between
several railroads and labor organizations. The March 4 agreement generally
allowed the purchase of portions of the two railroads with the purchaser
committed only to taking those employes it needed and providing them with a
reduced three year non-escalating guarantee. The purchasers would continue
to operate the newly acquired lines under the purchaser's labor agreements.
Article I, Section 8(a) of the March 4 Agreement provides:
"A purchasing carrier shall not take over or assume any of the
contracts, schedules or agreements in effect between the Rock
Island or Milwaukee and its employees concerning rates of pay,
rules, working conditions or fringe benefits, and shall not be
bound by the terms and provisions thereof."
The preface to the March 4 Agreement states:
"The scope and purpose of this agreement are to provide, pursuant
to the Milwaukee Railroad Restructuring Act (45 U.S.C. Sec. 901 et
seq.) and the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S.C. Sec. 10101 et
seq.), a fair, equitable and complete arrangement for protection
of Milwaukee and Rock Island employes taken into the employ of
interim service operators and purchasing carriers signatory
hereto."
Article I, Section 2(a) of the March 4 Agreement provides:
"The provisions of this agreement shall constitute the complete
labor protection obligation of a purchasing carrier to the
bankrupt carrier employes who are taken into its employ because of
a transaction."
Article IV, Section 3 of the March 4 Agreement provides:
"Milwaukee or Rock Island employees accepting employment with a
purchasing carrier pursuant to this agreement will be given credit
for service with the former employer in computing vacation
qualification, entry rates and sick leave."
Article III, Section 6 of the March 4 Agreement provides:
"Elections -- Nothing in this agreement shall be construed as
depriving any employe of the purchasing carrier whose employment
relationship began prior to the effective date of this agreement
of any rights or benefits or eliminating any obligations which
such employe may have under any existing job security or other
protective conditions or arrangements; provided, however, that if
a protected employe otherwise is eligible for protection under
both this agreement and some other job security or other protective conditions or arrangements, he shall elect between protection
under this agreement and, for so long as he continues to be
protected under the arrangement which he so elects, he shall not
be entitled to any protection or benefit (regardless of whether or
not such benefit is duplicative) under the arrangement which he
does not so elect."
The Carrier purchased 22 different segments of the Milwaukee Road, the
work on which was commingled with its existing seniority districts. Thirtyseven new maintenance of way positions were created and former Milwaukee
Road employes were given first right of hire for them.
In November 26, 1980, an Implementing Agreement was entered into which
gave the former Milwaukee Road employes, including Claimant, Carrier
seniority as of the date they entered the Carriers service. Claimant
entered the Carrier's service on March 22, 1980.
Paragragh (f) of the November 26 Agreement provides:
"Milwaukee employes will be subject to all BN labor agreements and
benefits applying to their craft and class based upon their
earliest seniority date they now hold under Maintenance of Way
Agreement."
Paragraph (m) of the November 26 Agreement provides:
"Nothing in this agreement is intended to supersede the provisions
of the March 4, 1980 Labor Protective Agreement."
In late 1986, the portion of the former Milwaukee Road on which
Claimant worked was sold to the Washington Central Railroad Company. His
position was abolished on December 13, 1986 and Claimant was furloughed.
The National Agreement of February 7, 1965, applicable to the Carrier's
employes provides:
"In the event of merger or consolidation of two or more carriers,
parties to this Agreement on which this agreement is applicable,
or parts thereof, into a single system subsequent to the date of
this agreement, the merged, surviving or consolidated carrier will
constitute a single system for purposes of this agreement, and the
provisions hereof shall apply accordingly, and the protections and
benefits granted to employes under this agreement shall continue
in effect."
Article I, Section 1 of the February 7, 1965 Agreement requires that,
in effect, an employe's seniority date from on or before October 1, 1962 in
order to be covered by the Agreement. The February 7 Agreement applied to
the Carrier's employes.
The Special Board of Adjustment No. 766, Award No. 1 (Dolnick) held:
"A later agreement providing job guaranty or job protection
replaces an earlier one unless otherwise specifically provided."
The position of the Organization is that Claimant is entitled to
protective payments for February and March 1987 according to the provisions
of Article IV of the February 7, 1985 Agreement. The Organization contends
that Claimant's seniority on the Milwaukee Road entitles him to the benefits
of the February 7 Agreement, and that the provisions of the March 4 and
November 26, 1980 Agreements do not preclude Claimant's choosing the
benefits provided in the February 7 Agreement. The Organization's proof is
two tiered. First the Organization points out that by the terms of the
November 26 Agreement, that Agreement does not supersede the March 4
Agreement. Then, the Organization notes that Article III, Section 6 of the
March 4 Agreement preserves to employes, including Claimant, all the job
security rights (including coverage under the February 7 Agreement) that
existed prior to the March 4 Agreement. Article III, Section 6 permitted an
election as to the choice of rights and, so the Organization contends,
Claimant chose the rights under the February 7 Agreement.
The position of the Carrier is that Claimant is not entitled to
protective payments for February and March 1987 because his rights do not
include those created under the February 7 Agreement.
Citing Article I, Section 8(a) the Carrier contends that Claimant is
not covered by the Milwaukee Road's participation in the February 7 Agreement. Next the Carrier argues that its selective purchase of bits and
pieces of the Milwaukee Road while the Milwaukee Road was still in existence
does not constitute a "consolidation" within the meaning of the February 7
Agreement. Noting the decision of Award 1 of SBA No. 766 (Dolnick), the
Carrier contends that the provisions of the March 4 Agreement supersede the
February 7 Agreement because the March 4 Agreement did not save the February
7 Agreement but rather made itself the sole protection, according to Article
I, Section 2(a).
The Carrier further contends that Claimant cannot elect benefits under
the February 7 Agreement because Article III, Section 6 applies to employes
of the Carrier at the time it purchased the Milwaukee Road, not to all
Carrier employes. Only those prepurchase employes are "employe[s] of the
purchasing carrier."
The Carrier also contends that since Claimant's seniority date with the
Carrier is March 22, 1980, he cannot avail himself of protection under the
February 7 Agreement because his seniority date is after the 1962 seniority
date established in the February 7 Agreement. Finally, the Carrier maintains that Claimant is not entitled to the benefits claimed because Article
IV, Section 3 created certain continuity of service rights, but not the ones
here claimed. Had the parties intended to create other rights, they would
have included them, but by enumerating the rights, the Carrier argues, they
intended to exclude other rights.
After considering the entire record, the Board finds that the instant
claim must be denied.
There is substantial, credible evidence in the record that in order to
receive the benefits he seeks, Claimant would had to have had broader rights
than he does. Claimant's protective rights have been limited as a result of
bargaining by the parties to the several Agreements before us.
Claimant's rights are limited by the well settled concept enunciated by
Neutral Dolnick that a later job protection agreement supersedes one that
went before it unless it specifically provides otherwise. The March 4
Agreement superceded whatever went before it not only based on that principle but by its own terms. Similarly, the November 26 Agreement did not
supersede the March 4 Agreement, by its own terms. Finally, the March 4
Agreement limited any carryover rights to those specifically enumerated as
in Article IV, Section 3.
Further, the organization has not presented a persuasive argument or
evidence to support its claim that the purchase of portions of the Milwaukee
Road constituted a "consolidation" as intended by the February 7 Agreement.
Therefore, Claimant did not derive the benefits of the February 7 Agreement
directly as a former Milwaukee Road employe.
In addition, Claimant did not derive coverage under the February 7
Agreement based on his status as an employe of the Carrier because of his
seniority date. Therefore, Claimant could not make the election according
to Article III, Section 6 on which the Organization bases its position.
Claimant had only the rights of a Carrier employe with a March 22, 1980
seniority date plus the preferencial rights awarded to former Milwaukee Road
employes as to the filling of Carrier positions according to the November
26 Agreement.
AWARD
The answer to the Question is "No."
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Nicholas H. Zumas, N~)ral Member
Date: