AWARD N0.135 Parties to Dispute:





Statement of Claim:



Upon the whole record and all the evidence, after hearing, the Board finds that the parties herein are carrier and employee within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and this board is duly constituted by agreement under Public Law 89-456 and has jurisdiction of the parties and subject matter.

                          AWARD


After thoroughly reviewing and considering the record and the parties' presentations, the Board finds that the claim should be disposed of as follows:

 Claimant and three other employees were hired at the Wheelersburg Terminal as Equipment Operators on
 December 29, 1990, subject to the provisions of the November 2, 1990 Agreement. That Agreement did
 not contain a provision for ranking employees who began service on the same date. Consequently,
 Carrier exercised its management right and ranked the employees first by whether they had existing
 seniority with Carrier and then in alphabetical order. Such determination was a reasonable exercise of
 management's rights and will not be disturbed. Although a December 17, 1996, Agreement created the
 position of Equipment Operator Trainee and provided for ranking employees hired into that position on
 the same date according to their birth dates, the Agreement did not apply retroactively to incumbent
 Equipment Operators. Accordingly, Claimant's standing on the seniority roster remained governed by
 the 1990 Agreement and Carrier's exercise of its management right to rank employees who entered
 service on the same date and who had prior Norfolk Southern seniority in alphabetical order was
 reasonable. Therefore, the claim must be f~

                        M. H. Malin

                    Chairman and Neutral Member


D. artholomay D. L. Kerby
 Organ ation Member Carrier Member
 Issued at Chicago, Illinois on October 19, 2004