PARTIES TO DISPUTE:

          Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees


                          and


          CSX Transportation, Inc. (former Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company) (former Monon Railroad))


STATEMENT OF CLAIM:

 Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:

      1. The Agreement was violated when the Carrier assigned

      junior Trackman S. S. Wampler to a Track Sub-division rail

      lubricator attendant position by Bulletin No. MON 0001 dated

      March 2, 1998, instead of assigning senior Trackman S. Truax

      [System File 98253-TM/12 (98-1125) MNN].


      2. As a consequence of the violation referred to in Part

      (1) above, Claimant S. Truax shall be compensated for all

      straight time and overtime at the applicable rail lubricator

      attendant's rate of pay and he shall receive all expense

      allowances related to said position beginning March 2, 1998

      and continuing until the violation is corrected.


FINDINGS:

 This Board, upon the whole record and all of the evidence, finds and holds as follows:

 1. That the Carrier and the Employee involved in this dispute are, respectively, Carrier and Employee within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as amended,; and

      2. That the Board has jurisdiction over this dispute.


OPINION OF THE BOARD:

 Rule 6 (Assignments) provides, in pertinent part:

          (a) Vacancies or new positions will be

          filled first by employees holding seniority

          in the rank in which the vacancy or new

          position occurs; if not so filled, they will

          then be filled by qualified employes in other

          ranks in that seniority group in accordance


                            1

                                          SSA iiio- Atod

                                                        rao


          with Rule 8, except as provided for in Paragraph (b) of this rule. In the event the vacancy or new position is not so filled by employes in the seniority group in which it occurs then it will be filled by qualified employes from other seniority groups in the respective sub-division before employing new men. Employes assigned will retain their seniority rights in their respective groups from which taken.


A careful review of the record indicates that Rule 6(a) contains an arguable ambiguity concerning the proper approach for the Carrier to fill a temporary position such as the disputed position in the present matter. The record reveals that the organization acknowledged the Carrier's previous approach in similar circumstances. The Organization therefore failed to refute the purported past practice described on the property by the Carrier in which the Carrier previously had filled such temporary vacancies in the same manner that gave rise to the present dispute. In the absence of any rule or rules cited by the Organization during the handling of the dispute on the property to refute the alleged past practice, no basis exists to resolve the ambiguity in favor of the organization. As a result, the organization failed to prove that the Carrier had violated the Agreement under these precise circumstances.

 AWARD:

 The Claim is denied in accordance with the opinion of the Board.

Robert L. Dou as

Chairman and Neutral Member


D nal~artholoma Mark D. Selbert
 Employee tuber Carrier Member

 Dated: ILk-C?I1
2