The Board, upon the whole record and on the evidence, finds that the parties herein are Carrier and Employees within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as amended; that this Board is duly constituted by agreement of the parties; that the Board has jurisdiction over the dispute, and that the parties were given due notice of the hearing.
The instant dispute arose in connection with track repair work after a derailment occurred on the Carrier's main line on June 7, 2008. It is undisputed that claimant was senior to Mr. Booth, and was in the proper class for the disputed work.
In its initial denial of the claim, the Carrier maintained that claimant was not available. In its later correspondence, the Carrier moved away from that position to one of claiming emergency circumstances permitted it to assign the work as it did.
utilized..." However, the record contains a statement from claimant showing that he was available to participate in the derailment repair work. In light of the claimant's statement, it was incumbent upon the Carrier to provide evidence to show that claimant was contacted but did not answer or was otherwise unavailable. The record is devoid of any actual evidence to show that Carrier made an effort to contact claimant.
While it is true that the awards of dispute resolution boards do recognize allowances for dealing with emergencies, they do not condone outright lack of efforts to honor the seniority provisions of the Agreement. Even in emergencies, Carrier's are expected to try to comply with applicable Agreement requirements. The record before us establishes that the Carrier did not attempt to contact claimant as it should have.
