PROC n
INGS BEFORE SPECIAL WARD OF ADJUSTMENT N0.
239
(Clerks Board, St. Louis, Missouri)
PARTIES TO DISPUTE
F.ROTHERH00D OF RAIDnT.AY AND STEAMSHIP CLERKS, FREIGHT HANDLERS,
EXPRESS AND STATION EMPTlJYES
and
14ISEOTJRI PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
1. Carrier violated the Clerks Agreement
when, effective
at close
of business on Friday, January
16, 19$9,
it nominally abolished
the position of Cashier at Clarksville) Arkansas, and effective
Monday, January
19, 1959,
it removed the clerical work the Cashier
had been performing exclusively from under the scope and operation
of the Clerks Agreement by requiring employes of the Carrier and
employes of the Missouri Pacific Freight Transport Company, outside
of the Clerks Agreement, to perform the work, which wa~Ln violation of Scope Rule 1, Rules 2, 3 and related rules of the Clerks
Agreement.
2.
The Carrier be required to reestablish the Cashier position at
Clarksville, Arkansas and place the clerical work at that station
back under the scope and operation of the Clerks 7greement.
3.
The Carrier shall pay Cashier Arville Kraus a pro rate day's pay
of
$19.08
for January
19, 19$9,
which is for the day's pay he lost
breaking in on position at Morrilton, Arkansas where he exercised
his seniority, after his position of Cashier was abolished at
Clarksville, Arkansas on January
16, 19$9.
OPINION OF BOARD:
Clarksville, Arkansas, ig a way station on the lines of CarrieraaGout
100 miles west and north of Little Rock. In better days there were as mangy as
three Clerks and two Telegrapher positions at that location. It is now a oneman station.
There is not enough work to support two positions, so an Agent-Telegrapher's position was kept on and the position of Cashier was abolished effective Monday, January
19, 19$9.
The Agent-Telegrapher is needed for the
small amount of train order and telegraph work. He fills out his eight-hour
tour of duty with other work including about six hours which can be classed
as clerical.
SSA Z39
Award No. 24
Docket No. 24
For reasons assigned and more fully explained in Docket No. 251 this
day decided b7- denial Award 25, the scope and other rules of agreement with the
Clerks on the lines of this Carrier were not violated by abolishment of the
Cashier's position under facts and circumstances as related above.
There is more to the dispute, however, that merits special consideration.
Clerical forces at Clarksville had handled the less than car load freight
to and from trucks (so long as clerical positions existed) pursuant to a special
understanding known as the "Warehouse Agreement," found at pages 97, 98, 99 of
the current Clerks' Agreement, in part reading:
"At all stations where classes of employes are employed, such as
clerks, warehouse foreman and/or truckers(freight handlers),
that are included in the Scooe Rule of the current agreement,
operators of vehicles (trucks or other conveyances) private or
contract, arriving or departing from the Carrier's warehouses,
will load or unload their lading (pick up or deliveries) to and
from their vehicles upon or from the floor of the warehouse
platform or truck thereon, and/or from the area inside the doors
of the warehouse extending the full length of the warehouse, but
not to exceed
7
ft. in depth."
The handling and checking of the L.C.L. freight was performed by
Missouri Pacific Freight Transport Company employes after the Cashier's position
was abolished, and this causes the 7nployes to say:
"By abolishing the Cashier position at Clarksville (which was a
nominal abolishment) it relieved. the Carrier of the requirement
to comply with the Warehouse Agreement as there was no longer an
employe subject to the Clerks' Agreement employed at that station."
Therefore, we understand the hhployes agree that one is subject to the
Clerks' Agreement must be employed at the station for the Warehouse Agreement to
apply at such a location, and we also agree.
We further understand the foregoing to mean that the Warehouse Agreement
is not being violated if the discontinuance of the Cashier's position was more
than a "nominal abolishment"; that the '.!arehouse Agreement rests for support
upon existence of clerical positions, rather than furnishing support for said
positions. This seems plausible to us.
Therefore, the controlling determination already has been made by this
Board when it found that the abolishment of the Cashier's position was proper,
our way of saying Carrier's action amounted to more than a "nominal abolishment."
Accordingly, and as the ·'3nployes say, the abolishment of the Cashier's
position relieved Carrier of the requirement to comply with the Warehouse
Agreement.
_ 2 ..
Award No.'24.
Docket No. 24
FINDINGS:
The Board] after oral hearing, and upon the record and all of the
evidence finds and holds:
That the Carrier and the Dnployes involved in this dispute are respectively Carrier and Dnployes within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act,
as amended;
That jurisdiction over the dispute involved herein has been conferred upon this Board by special agreement; and
That the Agreement by and between the parties to the dispute has not
been violated,
AWARD
Claims denied.
SPECIAL
BJARD of
ADJUSTsvIENT
NO. 239
/sl A. Langley Coffey,
A. Iangley Cof ey, Chairman
/s/
G. W.
Johnson
Employer Member
/s/ Frank D. ~;ton
Employ. 1 arr
Dated at St. Louis, Missouri
this 15th day of December 1961
File 205-3225
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