SHP 303

IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION

BETWEEN

CANADIAN PACIFIC LIMITED

AND

Brotherhood Railway Carmen of Canda

re GRIEVANCE of G. BASTIEN - TWENTY DEMERITS FOR ABSENTEEISM

 

 

SOLE ARBITRATOR: M. G. Picher

 

 

There appeared on behalf of the Union:

B.R. McDonagh – System General Chairman

L. Carozza – General Chairman, Atlantic Region

 

 

There appeared on behalf of the Company:

D.J. David – Labour Relations Officer, Montreal

A.Y. deMontigny – Supervisor, Personnel and Labour Relations, Mechanical Department

C. Thibault – Personnel Development Officer, Angus Shops

 

A hearing in this matter was held in Montreal on April 5, 1990.

 

AWARD

The following statement was filed at the hearing:

DISPUTE

Discipline assessed to Mr. G. Bastien, Angus Shops, Montreal, Quebec, on March 3, 1989 and his subsequent dismissal for having accumulated more than 60 demerits.

JOINT STATEMENT OF FACT

On March 3, 1989, Carman G. Bastien's record was debited 20 demerit marks for:

Absentéisme entre le 12 janvier et le 25 janvier, 1989. Total antérieur: 55 Total à jour: 75

On the same day, March 3, 1989, Carman G. Bastien's file was close for:

avoir accumulé plus de 60 mauvais points.

JOINT STATEMENT OF ISSUE

It is the position of the Brotherhood Railway Carmen that the Company has treated Carman G. Bastien in an unjust and excessive manner and has violated Rules 15 and 16.1 of the collective agreement. Therefore, Carman G. Bastien should be reinstated forthwith without loss of seniority, without loss of benefits and reimbursed for all time lost as provided for in the collective agreement.

The Company denies the claim.

The material establishes to the satisfaction of the Arbitrator that the grievor was absent from work without justification from January 12 to January 25, 1989. The inference most compellingly to be drawn from the record before me is that he was then engaged in another personal business venture, for which he bad been previously denied a leave of absence by the Company.

Prior to the assessment of the discipline which is the subject of this award, in light of prior arbitral awards, the grievor's record would have stood at forty-five demerits. The twenty demerits assessed would have raised his total to sixty-five demerits, placing him in a dismissable position. Are there any mitigating circumstances to reduce that penalty? In the Arbitrator's view there are not As the prior awards issued under the same date as this award indicate, the grievor displayed a long and recidivist record with respect poor timekeeping. He has, moreover, demonstrated a deliberate and recurring lack of candor with his supervisors with respect to the reasons for his absence, at times verging on contempt for his employer's legitimate interests. I can see no basis in the circumstances before me to reduce the penalty assessed against Mr. Bastien on the occasion of this culminating incident As his accumulated demerits total sixty-five, the Company had just cause for the termination of his services. Moreover, as noted in prior awards concerning the grievor, I find no violation of Rule 15, Rule 16, or of any other rule by the Company in the treatment of Mr. Bastien.

For the foregoing reasons the grievance must be dismissed.

DATED at Toronto this 17th day of April, 1990.

(sgd) M. G. Picher

Arbitrator