AH – 487

IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION

BETWEEN

VIA RAIL CANADA INC.

(the "Corporation")

AND

BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS

(the "Brotherhood")

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER TRAINING SELECTION PROCESS
ALBERT PAHOR

Sole Arbitrator: Michel G. Picher

Appearing For The Brotherhood:

James L. Shields – Counsel, Ottawa

John Tofflemire – General Chairman, Oakville

Scott W. Chamberlain – Counsel, Ottawa

Gilles Hallé – Canadian Director, Ottawa

W. G. Scarrow – Vice-President, UTU, Ottawa (observer)

Appearing For The Corporation:

E. J. Houlihan – Senior Manager, Labour Relations, Montreal

J. H. Lafleur – Counsel, Montreal

Melanie Bastien – Labour Relations Officer, Montreal

Chuck Harnish – Manager, Customer Service, Montreal

A hearing in this matter was held in Montreal on Monday, May 29, 2000.

AWARD

The grievor, Mr. A. Pahor, has been employed as a yard foreman and yardmaster exclusively with the Corporation. There is no significant discipline recorded against him, and no evidence with any difficulty with respect to operating rules.

The Corporation’s attitude towards Mr. Pahor’s application is tantamount to concluding that a person with yardmaster experience, who has not worked as a conductor, cannot be trained for work as a locomotive engineer. With respect I cannot agree. Firstly, it appears that the grievor has had some experience as a road conductor in relief service. In any event, it is not clear that anything in Mr. Pahor’s background can fairly be viewed as rendering him unacceptable, subject of course to his properly completing the other aspects of the screening process.

The grievance is therefore allowed, and the Arbitrator directs that Mr. Pahor be progressed to the next stage of the selection process.

Dated at Toronto, June 6, 2000

(signed )MICHEL G. PICHER

ARBITRATOR