AH - 183

IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION

BETWEEN:

CANADIAN PACIFIC LIMITED

(the “Company”)

AND

THE BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD SIGNALMEN

(the “Union”)

IN THE MATTER OF THE GRIEVANCE OF D.R. MORROW

SOLE ARBITRATOR:     J.F.W. Weatherill

There appeared on behalf of the Company:

                                I.J. Waddell

                                P.E. Timpson

And on behalf of the Union:

                                R.E. McCaughan

                                A.G. Cunningham

A hearing in this matter was held at Montreal, Quebec, on March 13, 1980.

AWARD

                This grievance involves a claim on behalf of Signal Maintainer’s Helper D.R. Morrow that he was entitled to expenses while working a temporary position at Revelstoke West.

The Joint Statement of Issue is as follows:

1.             Mr. Morrow was the successful applicant for the bulletined temporary vacancy in the position of Signal Maintainer’s Helper - Revelstoke West.

2.             The Union claims that because the bulletin did not state the approximate duration of the temporary vacancy pursuant to Clause 9.1 of Wage Agreement 25, Mr. Morrow was entitled  to compensation for expenses pursuant to Clause 6.2.

3.             The Company denied the claim.

                Article 9:1 of the collective agreement is as follows:

ARTICLE 9

Vacancies and New Positions

9.1  New positions and permanent or temporary vacancies of more than thirty days’ duration except those due to annual vacations, will be bulletined within thirty days previous to and five days following the date such new positions occurs.  Assignments will be made after bulletin notice has been posted at the Headquarters of each employee on the appropriate seniority territories for a period of ten days during which time the employees may file their application with the official whose name appears on the bulletin, with a copy to the Local Chairman.  Bulletin shall show location, descriptive classification, whether permanent or temporary, and if temporary, the approximate duration.  The appointment will be made and the name of the successful applicant will be announced by bulletin to all concerned within ten days from closing date of bulletin.  A copy of all bulletins will be supplied to the Local Chairman.

In the application of Clause 9.1, employees holding a permanent positions in a maintenance classification shall not be appointed to fill a temporary vacancy in his own classification, except in the case of a signal maintainer or helper bidding from a 40-hour per week position to a 179.3 hour per four-week position or when bidding on a preferred shift.

                In the instant case there was a bulletin issued on May 31, 1978, for two positions, one which was set out as follows:

“Temporary position of Signal Maintainers Helper - Chase - 179.3 hour basis.”

                The bulletin advertising the vacancy in question did not set forth all of the information which ought to have been included therein.  A grievance in that respect would surely have been the successful, and the company would have been required to advise applicants or potential applicants what the details of the posted job were.

                However that may be, the grievor applied for and was awarded the bulletined job.  The vacancy was one created by the absence of the regular employee, who had been injured in an automobile accident.  While it was known that he would be absent more than thirty days, the precise length of his absence was not known at the time of the bulletin.  It would be possible to deduce from the fact of bulletining the vacancy (having in mind the terms of the collective agreement), that it would be a vacancy of more than thirty days’ duration.

                The grievor was appointed to the temporary vacancy, and performed the work.  This grievance is not the grievance that might have been filed as to the insufficiency of the bulletin itself, but is rather a grievance relating to certain compensation sought by the grievor in respect of his work on the job.  The grievance is based on article 6.2 of the collective agreement, which is as follows:

6.2  Employees taken off their assigned territory or regular boarding outfits, will be compensated for boarding and lodging expenses they necessarily incur.  This will apply t employees (exclusive of block signal maintainers in their assigned territory) when taken away from their assigned headquarters.  When temporary relief work is performed under the requirements of clauses 9.7, 9.8 and 9.9, employees taken off their assigned territory or regular boarding outfits under such bulletin will be allowed travel time and will be compensated for boarding and lodging expenses they necessarily incur.

                Article 6 is entitled generally “Traveling on Orders of the Railway”, and article 6.1 deals with payment of traveling time, and article 6.2 with payment of expenses, where employees are required at the instance of the company to work away from their assigned territory, assigned headquarters or regular boarding outfits.  The instant case was not such a case.  The grievor was not taken off his assigned territory or regular boarding outfit by the company.  On the contrary, he applied on a posted vacancy, even although full information about the vacancy was not given.  The insufficiency of compliance with article 9.1 was a breach of the collective agreement on the company’s part, but that breach did not have the effect of turning the situation into one which article 6.2 applied.  The change of territories which the grievor temporarily undertook was at his own application.

                For these reasons, article 6.2 of the collective agreement did not apply to the situation involved in this case, and the grievor was not entitled to the payments contemplated by that article.  Accordingly, the grievance must be dismissed.

DATED AT TORONTO, this 18^th day of March, 1980.