SPECIAL
BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT N0.
279
BROTHERHOOD OF MAINTENANCE OF
WAY
EMPLOYES
versus
MISSOURI PACIFIC RULRCAD CUAPANY
STATEMENT
OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
(1) The Carrier violated the effective Agreement during the period of December
10 to
3l, 1959,
by permitting a junior B&B Foreman to fill the position of Foreman
in System B&B Gang No. 1 and failing to assign senior B&B Foreman H. J. Hamilton to
fill this vacancy.
(2)
The Carrier now reimburse B&B Foreman H. J. Hamilton for the difference in
pay between what he received while working as a Division Assistant B&B Foreman
(Division B&B Foreman during the period December
14-15
and
16, 1959)
and that which
he would have received asSystem Gang B&B Foreman during this period referred to in
part 1 of this claim.
FINDINGS: The claim here involves the filling of the position of Foreman in System
B&B Gang No. 1 while the regular foreman was on vacation. Article 12(b) of the
Vacation Agreement controls because it provides that absence on vacation is not a
vacancy under any rule. It provides that in filling the position of a vacationing
employe "effort will be made to observe the principle of seniority."
This provision does not require in all cases the use of the senior man as noted
in our Award No.
57
and while the Employes; contentions herein may be appropriate in
connection with filling vacancies, they are not appropriate under this Vacation Agreement.
That Agreement requires the Carrier to make a bona fide effort to observe seniority and to show that it had a reasonable basis for any decision to use a junior man.
In this case, it is shown that the gang was engaged in a complicated effort of
constructing a cofferdam for a new pier under a high through truss. The man selected
had been working in the gang was was familiar with the work in progress. Carrier
states that the claimant is without experience in cofferdam work and that in view of
the use of a long boom it considered an inexperienced man presented an undesirable
safety hazard.
Thus under the circumstances disclosed in this docket it cannot be said that the
Carrier acted arbitrarily in by-passing the claimant, and the claim cannot be sustained simply because claimant was senior to the man selected.
AWARD:
Claim denied.
SPECIAL
BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT N0.
279
(s) Dudley E. Whiting
Dudley E. Whiting - Chairman
(s) A. J. Cunningham (s) G. W. Johnson
A. J. Cunningham - Employe Member G. W. Johnson - Carrier Member
St. Louis, Missouri, September
27, 1962
File BM41E
30-59