SPECIAL BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT N0. 170
BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY AND STEAMSHIP CLERKS,
FREIGHT HANDLERS, EXPRESS AND STATION EMPLOYES
versus
ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that ..-
(a) Carrier violated the rules of the Clerkst Agreement at Martin,
Tennessee, when on May 23, 1955, it unilaterally assigned clerical work theretofore attached to a clerical position to be performed by an employe of Carrier
occupying a position that is not included within the Scope Rule of its Agreement with the Brotherhood, revised as of February 1, 1954.
(b) H. B. Nevil, the senior unassigned clerk and/or his successor,
if there be any, be compensated for wage losses sustained representing a day's
pay at pro rata rate of Position No. 83 retroactive to May 23, 1955, and forward to date the Rules violation is corrected. (Pro rata rate of position
$15.51 per day.)
(c) That position No. 83, Cashier, be re-established and bulletined
to the clerical employes having seniority rights on the Mississippi Division
Seniority District
NOTE: Reparation to be determined by joint check of Carrier's
payroll and other records.
OPINION: Carrier maintains at Martin, Tennessee, joint facilities for handling
the Illinois Central and Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Rail
roads' passenger, freight and. interchange business, The passenger station is
located at the intersection of both Carriers and approximately three hundred
yards north of the freight station.
Prior to October 1, 1954, the agent and all clerical employes worked
at the freight station and the telegraphers worked at the passenger station.
Prior to the above date, W. E. Henry, a cakhier, worked 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 P.m.,
Monday through Friday. Effective October 1, 1954, the rate clerk and the yard
clerk positions were abolished, and concurrently two train clerks were moved
from the freight station to the passenger station where they shared an office
with the telegraphers. The cashier position was made a six-day assignment with
relief furnished each Saturday.
The duties assigned to the cashigr~osition were as follows:
1. Handle accounting records for IC and NCStL.
2. Check freight handled by contract drayman.
3. Check freight received in merchandise cars.
Award No.
33
Docket No. CL-8850
4. Check freight received from and delivered to over-the-road
trucks.
Compile manifest of freight handled by over-the~road trucks,
Handle salvage and sales orders.
7. Make remittances for IC and NCStL.
8. Collect charges for all freight received.
9. Handle correspondence concerning accounts for IC and NCStL.
10. Make corrections for over and under charges for IC and~NCStL.
11. Make record of LCL freight forwarded by car and truck.
12. Make tonnage record of LCL freight handled.
13.
Quote freight rates.
14. Check rates and extend charges on all freight shipments.
15. Make expense bills for all freight received.
16. Maintain tariff file.
17.
Make record of revenue on freight delivered to NCStL.
18. Make monthly reports, balances, remittances, etc.
Effective May
23,
1955, the cashier position No.
83
was abolished, and
all the duties regularly performed by the occupants thereof, Monday through Saturday, were reassigned to be performed by Agent Harmon.
It is the position of the employe that the Carrier violated the Agreement in that there was no abolishment of work when the Carrier assigned the
duties attaching to the position of Cashier to the Agent, an employe of another
craft.
It is the position of the Carrier that in the interest of efficiency
and economy it has the right to abolish clerical positions and assign the remain.
ing work to telegraphers.
In coming to our conclusion on the issue involved in this cause, we
have in mind that the freight and passenger offices are under the ,jurisdiction
of one agent and that the work performed by the telegraphers was moved from the
freight office to the passenger station. It does not appear that any work was
added from other stations.
In Award No.
7
of Special Board of Adjustment No. 169 involving a dispute whereby the Carrier abolished a yard clerk position and assigned the duties
to a telegrapher, it was held:
"The fact is known and recognized by railroad men generally
that long prior to the organization of the Clerks' Organization and
the recognition of it as a national organization, that operators
(Telegraphers) have always been givah-cq_lerical work to the extent
of their ability to perform it within their daily assignment, in
order to give the operator a reasonable days work along with the
intermittent telegraph duties required of him. That theory was
recognized by the Railroad Administration and prior to the time
- 2 -
Award No.
33
Docket No.
CL-8850
the organization became national in scope representing the class
or craft known as clerks and has been recognized ever since. The
fact is that a telegrapher under that concept is more or less a
glorified clerk with duties over and beyond the ability of a normal clerk to perform, that is, telegraphy. But the right of the
Carrier to assign clerical work to an operator to the extent of
his ability to perform it within his daily assignment has always
been recognized as the right of carrier and not an imposition upon
the clerks as a craft or class."
It is urged by the employe in the case at bar that the clerks have
performed the services for a number of years and have thereby established their
right to so continue.
In Third Division Award 7031 involving a dispute over the allocation
of work to different crafts, the Board stated:
" . Nor is the fact that work at one point is assigned to
one craft for a long period of time of controlling importance when
it appears that such work was assigned to different crafts at different points within the scope of the agreement. We conclude that
the work here in question was not the exclusive work of Clerks on
this Carrier."
We conclude that in the interest of economy the Carrier was within its
rights in abolishing the position of cashier and assigning the remaining work
to a telegrapher.
FINDINGS: The Special Board of Adjustment No. 170 after giving to the parties
to this dispute due notice of hearing thereon, and upon the whole
record and all the evidence, finds and holds:
That the Carrier and Employes involved in this dispute are respectively Carrier and Employes within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act;
That the Special Board of Adjustment No. 170 has jurisdiction over
the dispute involved herein; and
That the Agreement was not violated.
AWARD: Claim denied.
SPECIAL BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT N0. 170
Is/ :·:.
Sh3rpe
Edward M. Sharpe -- Chairman
E. H. Hellmann
A. B. Simmons -- Employe Member E. H. Hellmann -- Carrier Member
Chicago, Illinois
January 17,
1958