PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
        Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes

                    and

        Chicago & North Western Transportation Company


STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
    Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:


    (1) The disciplinary demotion from B&B Foreman to Machine Operator of C. C. Brown for allegedly failing to economically perform his duties was without just and sufficient cause and based on conjecture and speculation. (Organization File 4D-1913; Carrier File D-11-3-356)


    (2) B&B Foreman C. C. Brown shall be allowed the remedy prescribed in Rule 19(d) of the effective Agreement.


0

 OPINION OF THE BOARD:
 This Board, upon the whole record and all of the evidence, finds and holds that the Employe and the Carrier involved in this dispute are respectively Employe and Carrier within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and that the Board has jurisdiction over the dispute involved herein.
 On July 13, 1981, the Carrier directed ,he Claimant to attend an investigation. The letter read in pertinent part as follows:

    "You will arrange to appear for hearing on Friday, July 17,

    1981 which has been postponed and re-scheduled at the request

    of the Vice Chairman. BMWE as indicate: below:

                                              ~9'~0 - 60 6


          _ 2


    "PLACE: B&B Office, Boone,-Iowa

    "DATE: Thursday, July 23, 1981

    "TIME: 9:00 a.m.

    "CHARGE: Your responsibility in connection with

    failure to economically perform the duties of

    . your position as B&B Foreman in connection

    with work performed between May 18, 1981 and

    July 9, 1981 on the Marshalltown scale project.

-"You may be accompanied by one or more persons of your own choosing
 subject to applicable rules of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of
 Way Employee's schedule, and you may, if you so desire, produce
 witnesses in your own behalf without expense to the Transportation
 Company."
 Subsequent to the investigation, the Claimant was given the discipline now
 on appeal before the Board.
 Several Carrier witnesses at the investigation stated that 216 man
 hours was a reasonable estimate of time required to complete the job in
 question. The crew under the Claimant's direction, however, took 339 man
 hours to complete the job.
 The Board is convinced that the Claimant took longer than necessary
 to complete the job. However, there is a certain amount of doubt in the,
 record as to how much longer he took than was deemed "normal" by the
 Carrier. This doubt is based on the fact that the Carrier's benchmark of
 comparison was described as an estimate or average of how long it would
 take to complete the project. Thus, 216 hours is not a definite number of
 hours necessary to complete the job, but a number within a range of hours.
 The Board finds it significant that no Carrier Officials inspected the job
 until near its completion. Therefore, it cannot be determined that there
 weren't factors that would tend to cause the job to take somewhat longer
 than the average. Thus, it is quite possibl(. that even under normal
 circumstances, the job could have taken more than 216 hours without being
 unreasonable.
 _ ~ Cy, lvo_ lobo
' Accordingly, while the Claimant took longer than he should have and
      thus, some discipline was appropriate, we can't determine that his failure

      to perform the job was as aggrievous or as dilatory to the degree

      contended by the Carrier. When this mitigating factor is taken into

      consideration with the Claimant's 36 years of unblemished service and the

      importance of the opportunity for advancement, it is difficult to conclude

      that permanent revocation of Foreman and Assistant Foreman rights is

      appropriate for a single instance of this nature.

      In view of the foregoing, we will direct the Carrier to reinstate the Claimant's Foreman and Assistant Foreman rights. However, there wilt be no pay for time lost.


      AWARD:

      The Claim is sustained to the extent indicated in the Opinion. The Carrier is directed to comply within thirty (30) days.


                        a Vernon, airman


      -R-V. ar'-R per, EmpPuye` ember Crawford/ rd/ Cart ler--M-em-Fe-r


      Dated: (` (~