i3ROTHERi?00D OF RinIL'4AY. AIRLINE AND STEAMSHIP

CLERKS 1 EXPRE.`.i:~ AND STATION E::`iPLOYE~:S





                                                              ~.-~

                    SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY ~``7

                    (TEXAS AND LauISIAN.a LINES) ~`~ a-~'.=--


STAT:."LNT CF CLAIM :

                                                          '06


      Claim of they System Committee of the Brotherhood, that:


      1. The Carrier violated Section 6(a) of Article II of

      the Agreement of April 20! 1`366, when, com«encinq June 30, 1968,

      it failed to pro;-.erlv con, -ensate Clerk R. S. Dr«ker "a c)rotected

      emr:love" under the terms of said aqreement at the normal rate of

      compensation of the position held by him on April 20, 1966, plus

      subsequent general wage adjustments.


      2. The Carrier now be recuired to compensate Clerk R. S. Draker by the addition of $0.9536 per dav_ to his protected rate of compensation effective June 30, 1°66( and in addition to this new protected rate apply other general wage ciian(jes effective July 1, 1968, and subsequent general wage chLnges fo,r eactl and every work day until the violation is corrected.


OPINTIO?d OF BOARD:
In September 1, 1966 Claimant Draker--a "arotected. employee" as de
fined in Article III Section 1 of the April 20 , 1966 Agreement--was dis
placed from his Cashier position at San Antonio Freight Station by a senior
clerk whose position had been abolished. Claimant complied with Section 8
and 9 of Article II in making displacement and was allowed his "normal rate
of comtDensation" of $24.9824 per day (rate of the Cashier position he form
erly occupied) for service subsequently performed on his new Assistant Rate
ClerV position which carried the lower rr_te of 523.9924 aver day.
in addition to e-tabli shiny the rate of the position to which assigned
on a certain date a;; the protected emi)loyee's "norm,il rate of compensation,"
::(=ctior, c,C,-,) of Article II pcovides this( "such compec:sation shrill :b_= ad;Lyste

t.E~111G.i'.t~.·.· _;11::.~iE~f~l~tj:'it. C.~Cnt.'r.1~w.i'jE' C~li:il;:f'.`':. ~~Iii accordance with tt'iiS re-
r:uir t'tift't~t I C1.-i i rl ?:tf: !~rL9 :c'r' :"Sio
include (,,_-neral4 tJ..;Ct_ <'3djustmeriL5

effectiv(- oil J'l::Lrary 1, 196?, J,

rm<11 r
C7 f

Olu .try

Lind July i, 1961) re:Pectively.
      The urqania~3ttion contends that in addition to


wage A`,ustments detailed above, claimant's normal

should hc:ve included the arttount added to the rate o

position on June 30, 1968 resin ting

Fund" establish~::d by

dated December 28, if·67. The Carrier

tribution was not a "general w iqe cha

cl aialar

,-?ref ore

cite? of C<71tt:-f!ti:;·3tlOt1" waS i1djL1:'.Ct=d to

3

I,nd 3"" Which becam'.

19t)8,, J.'-;-:u,ar Yy
            1,


tne subsequent general.

his former Cashier

from distribution of the "Classificatic
Article IV of tt-.e National Agreement

reaaands that the subject fund dis-

~nge" and t::us there wigs no requirement

to add they recruested amount to r.tls ",normal rate of comi)ensation."

The confronting question is t~: whether tie distribution of the fund

L'eorL'S<'_iltt?d Ts C7er3eru:i wage Ct'Ic3rtge within the meaninq Gf hrtlC]r? Its Section
6( a) of ti-,e Aryl 20, 1966 n.grEtetr,ent.
The terns and conditions for distributing the subject fund are set
:or_t't~ in the National Agreerler:_ dated April 2, 1968. Section 1, Item 1

thereof decl -res in pertinent :)art that tt,e fund is "to lie allocated as

r* _
wage adjustments among selected positions carrying rates of pay that are
found to reed reevauatiGn and upward adjustments by reason of skills or

special job requirements ....

Lines based on in tram:d other criteria. Item 3 provides that i

Item 2 sets forth fund distribution guide-

-carrier, inter-carr=.er and inter-industry inerui,

tie_-, f fi local agreement is not reach

on r. par ocular r --i lr oad by ,7u;.e 1 , 1968 regardina distribution of the fund as ;_rovf.dad in Item c, the fund "shall hr~ distributod effective- June 30, 1°E can that railroad to .311 emnlGy<·cs covered by t)-,e r:ay t rovisions of the 8R,%C

Aqre-mf>:It: ;lt;ft wu0 ,rx ·a in the `.:~;: 62 to r~

entire c;ro:;p of crrployec·s coml:;.I under

z .,. 'i'tr2G'rc~,.: On t1c= t t)i 1U1'1.7.r.~_~ ~_~,i.` _. . . ~" It

/',--.of thf- rzit<_ strucviiro of the

the ;:>.;y' e -;ions of

"it ;t ttl,-t!_ t_tli.^, f~l j c;ii,i
group shall be divi(ied .into five equal parts according to the level or r«te_° of the rerpectivf· poLitionsr and that specified declining percentages (30,~, 25%, 20`'~f 1S'~. ~~.nd 10R:) of the fund will be used to adjust the rates of "po: i ,ion-' in each sub-group (starting with the highest salar led .yuu-grouk~ in equal amounts within each of the : ub-groups.
Since the subject parties failed to reach agreement by June lg 1:'68 on distribution of the fund in accordance with the guidr-il ines contained in item 2 of the April 2, 1968 National Agreement, on June 24, 1963 they entered :.kit a Memorandum of Agreement on arrangements for distributing the fund in accordance with Item 3 of the April 2, 1968 Agreement. This ?.1iernorandun called for wage increases of varying amounts (as determined by the Item 3 formula) to be applied to approximately 641;; (i.e., 931) of the 1454 "job:, worked January 3, 1968." As a result of this fund distribution,, the rate fc the Cashier position from which Claimant Draker had been displaced on Septe"'I ber It 1966 was increased by 0.9536 per day, and the rate of the Assistant Rate Clerk position occupied by claimant was increased by $0.?904 per day. Sincel the Carrier decliriLd to add the b0.9j' 36 to claimant ' s "normal rate of compensation," and since the protected rate tie was receiving exceeded the rate for his Assistant Rate Clerk position by more titan 50.7904 per day, he did not receive any monetary benefit from the .fund distribution.
We are unable to regard distribution of the fund as a general, wage chan As previously noted, the April 2. 1968 rational Agreement (Item 1) provided that the fund was "to be allocated as wage adjustments among selected positions carrying rates of pay that are found to need reevaluation and upward adjustments..." The fund distribution guidelines set forth in Item 2 perranted more flexibility of application than the Item 3 formula but the two sections wr·_re intended to constitute c:Iternate procedures for attz.;ining the objective set forth in ltei~.i 1. -Vhc Item 3 formula clearly was designed to

                            - 3_

ccrrt`ct: ~~r;itt. t:lze :ICC~t,tlritort~ cjt ~ilfApril 2! 19t~ij N<<tioritll Ac?ree-Tlellt 7-t2-~~iIC~E'.t~ Q1S ti t~1111 C.C::1::7-r'S`;f~d ',.,~,iuc structure. It w:~ for thi:y LE=~t::C~tl :.Tli~ di:>tri.t~uciDii of the ;und ~r~s liR1itcd to :jct.>itio:.s held by em-lohee:, in tho

',.o:, ;:~vo--thirds of the rate strut tune of t;:e entire qroup of em:;lovees in tl1-

bargaininc, unit, wits: tile ctmou7:t of wege increase to be greater for the

tlical;er. nu:)--groups of positions.
      With one-third of the positions (and t,'-:erefore e7nployees) excluded frot

the distribution of t4lle fund! it would be illogical to hold thin this di=tr
bu tion constituted a c;enerl-:l wage change, -~:hic:~ is normally considered to bi
a chonge affecting all the employees or positions in the bargaining unit.
Mor, cover, the proportion of positions (arid tliereforc employees) excluded
from the fund distribution was simply too large to 1,e considered a minor
exception to an otherv.-ise general wage ct:;ir:ge.

      For the foregoirzq reasons the claim is Without merit and will be denies


                          A Hi A R D


      Claim, denied.


                r, ~'~ oyd H. ':jai ler,, Nt:~uzrai member

                " and Chairman


L~uv~ . ::. 1 ~,i;or7~ Zmoyee Member R. W. hd~Ims! Carrier Membt=r
~~Z~,,,. %~'~:~:~.:~-mss,

Dated: July 51 19 '0