NEW YORK DOCK
If you had service with Conrail or Norfolk Southern
prior to June 1, 1999, you are entitled to protection under the Merger
Implementing Agreement. The particulars
of this protection are know as “New
York Dock Conditions.” We hope to have this
area stocked with copies of the applicable engineer and train service
agreements as well as letters of interpretation and current instructions for
the submission of these claims.
Downloadable claim forms will also be attached.
NEW YORK DOCK is
the protective arrangement mandated by the US Government as a condition for
allowing Norfolk Southern and CSXT to acquire Conrail. It provides for, amongst other things, the
re-negotiation of our agreements (to the extent necessary to facilitate the
merger), guaranteed earnings and preservation (for a six-year period) of
non-wage benefits such as insurance arrangements and 401(k) plans. Of immediate interest to us is the wage
protection feature:
*
The protection period is equal to the length
of your prior Conrail service up to a maximum of six years. The clock started running on June 1st.
* Test
Period Average (TPA) is the monthly average of your hours
worked and wages earned during the ‘test period’ which is April 1st,
1996 through March 31st, 1997.
Norfolk Southern issued their calculations of these amounts at the end
of May and the figures are typically low.
If you dispute the figures or did not receive this mailing, it is
important that you notify the railroad.
Protests should be send to:
Mr. J. R. Wilkerson
Norfolk Southern Railway Co.
223 East City Hall Avenue
Norfolk, Virginia 23510-2191
The telephone number is (757)
629-2437. Your weekly Conrail T&E
Earnings Statements will be particularly useful as evidence of your correct
earnings level though W-2 information for the years of 1996 and 1997 can be
used in the alternative. Please don’t
hesitate to call me for help with this process.
* A
Monthly Displacement Allowance can be claimed for each
month that your earnings fail to reach your TPA level (with numerous conditions
attached). I have enclosed a copy of
the required form which must be filed within sixty (60) days of the end of the
month of claim. This form also goes to
the above address in Norfolk. Note:
If you were in engineer training during any part of the Test Period,
that period is excluded from your calculation and you may include an equivalent
period of time immediately prior to April 1st, 1996, as part of your
test year. Conversely, you will not be
able to collect a TPA for any period of time you spend in Engineer Training
after Split Date.
· Claims should be mailed directly these claims directly to labor relations at the following address:
Mr. J. R. Wilkerson
Norfolk Southern Railway Co.
223 East City Hall Avenue
Norfolk, Virginia 23510-2191
·
Each claim needs to be filed with labor relations
or local supervision within seventy-five (75) days following the end of the
month claimed.
·
The railroad then has seventy-five (75) days to
respond to you.
·
If their response is to deny your claim, in whole
or in part, the BLE has sixty (60) days to appeal the denial to a higher level
of labor relations. This appeal is
handled by Vice General Chairman Sykes.
To submit an appeal, promptly forward a copy of (1) the letter stating
what your guarantee amount is (you should have received this in 1999), (2) a
copy of your claim as submitted and (3) a copy of the denial letter your
received from labor relations. Any
additional information you can supply to support your claim will help.
·
Please mail this information to the following
address:
Mr. Larry W. Sykes
Vice General Chairman
Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers
10874
Beech Daly Road
Taylor,
MI 48180
Remember that the General Chairman has only sixty
days to file his appeal measured from the date the railroad mailed the denial
letter to you. Appeals on New York
Dock issues are not handled by the Local Chairman. Prompt handling of this paper work should
enable this process to proceed smoothly.
Offsets to your guarantee are made for each day or
portion of a day during which you were not available for the full twenty-four
hour period. The issue has also been
raised over ‘how’ available we have to be in pool service or if we hold regular
assignments. The carrier has taken the
position that we have to be available for relief day service, to move up in our
pools or to accept work not normally covered by our assignment or pool. The BLE disagrees! Our success in defending against these
positions would depend on what type of service you were in during the guarantee
period (April, 1996, though March, 1997).
If you worked a fast moving road extra board that required you to be
available 24-hours a day during that period, for instance, the carrier claims
that your ‘work ethic’ should remain unchanged. A lot of these issues have yet to be resolved and the carrier’s
position in each and every circumstance is not yet clear. Some disputes, to be certain, will end up
before an arbitrator before we get any clarification. If you get a call outside of your regular job or pool or for a
call that you are not qualified for, please make note of the date, time and
job. This will help in the appeal
process.