II.Seniority and Work Consolidation

II. Seniority and Work Consolidation.

The following seniority consolidations will be made:

A. A new seniority district will be formed and master Seniority Rosters, UP/UTU Denver Hub, will be created for the employees working as Conductors, Brakemen, yardmen (the term yardman shall, in this agreement, refer to all yard positions including foreman, helper, utility man, herder and switch tender) and Firemen in the Denver Hub on November 1, 1996. (The term “trainmen” is used hereafter as a generic term to include all UTU-C,T&Y represented employees and where applicable all UTU-E represented employees). The four new rosters will be created as follows:

  1. Switchmen/brakemen placed on these rosters will be dovetailed based upon the employee’s current seniority date. If this process results in employees having identical seniority dates, seniority will be determined by the employee’s current hire date with the Carrier.
  2. Conductors placed on these rosters will be dovetailed based upon the employee’s actual promotion date into the craft. If this process results in employees having identical seniority dates, seniority will be determined by the employee’s current hire date with the Carrier.
Prior Rights to Zones, Example (assumes only has 5 people on roster):
Name Roster Ranking Zone 1 (Denver Terminal, Denver-Axial/Bond to Sharon Springs/Cheyenne excluding Sharon Springs & Cheyenne yard/local/road switchers Pueblo-Horace) [UPED, MPUL Pueblo roster, DRGW] Zone 2 (Grand Junction/Denver/Bond Montrose/Oliver/Minturn) [DRGW] Zone 3 (Pueblo-Denver/S. Fork Minturn/to Dalhart excluding Dalhart) [DRGW]
JONES, A. #1 X
SMITH, B. #2 X
ADAMS, C. #3 X
BAILEY, D. #4 X
GREEN, E. #5 X
  1. All employees placed on the roster may work all assignments protected by the roster in accordance with their seniority and the provisions set forth in this Agreement.
  2. New employees hired and placed on the new rosters on or after November 1, 1996, will have no prior rights but will have roster seniority rights in accordance with the zone and extra board provisions set forth in this Agreement.

B. The new UP/UTU seniority districts will be divided into the following three (3) Zones:

  1. Zone 1 will include Denver east to but not including Sharon Springs and the Oakley extra board, Denver north to but not including Cheyenne, Denver west to and including Bond and Axial, Pueblo east to Horace, and all road and yard operations within the Denver Terminal including any road switchers at Colorado Springs.

    Note: The Oakley extra board is part of the Denver Hub and assignments at Oakley will be filled by the Denver Hub. The reference to Sharon Springs is for pool freight service and the work normally protected by the Oakley extra board shall continue as part of the Denver Hub.
  2. Zone 2 will include Grand Junction to Denver (long pool only), Grand Junction to Montrose, Oliver, Minturn (not including Minturn helper service) and Bond and yard assignments.
  3. Zone 3 will include Pueblo to Denver, South Fork, Minturn and to Dalhart not including Dalhart, but including Minturn helper service and yard assignments.
  4. Road, road/yard, or yard extra boards will not be part of any zone if they cover assignments in more than one zone. Extra boards that cover assignments in only one zone will be governed by zone rules and the current rules of the collective bargaining agreement for this Hub.

C. Trainmen initially assigned to the new rosters will be accorded prior rights to one of the three zones based on the following:

  1. Zone 1 – Trainmen assigned to rosters on the former Union Pacific Eastern District 12th District, MPUL Pueblo trainmen and DRGW employees working positions within the points specified for this Zone on November 1, 1996.
  2. Zone 2 – Trainmen assigned to rosters on the former DRGW, working positions within the points specified for this Zone on November 1, 1996.
  3. Zone 3 – Trainmen assigned to rosters on the former DRGW, working positions within the points specified for this Zone on November 1, 1996.

D. Trainmen hired and assigned to the merged roster after implementation shall be assigned to a zone, but without prior rights, based on the Carrier’s determination of the demands of service at that time in the Denver Hub.

E. The purpose of creating zones is twofold: First it is to provide seniority in an area that an employee had some seniority prior to the merger, or contributed some work after the merger, unless that trackage is abandoned, and thus preference to some of their prior work over employees in other zones; Second to provide a defined area of trackage and train operations that an employee can become familiar so as not to be daily covering a multitude of different sections of track. As such the following will govern:

  1. Trainmen will be allowed to make application for an assignment in a different zone as vacancies arise. If reduced from the working list in their zone, trainmen may exercise their common seniority in the remaining two zones.
  2. Trainmen may not hold a reserve board outside their zone. The current collective bargaining agreement is amended to provide for a reserve board for each zone.
  3. Trainmen with a seniority date prior to February 1, 1992 shall be permitted to hold a reserve board in their zone. Trainmen holding a seniority date subsequent to February 1, 1992 must be displaced prior to employees being permitted to hold a reserve board position.

F. It is understood that certain runs home terminaled in the Denver Hub will have away from home terminals outside the Hub and that certain runs home terminaled outside the Hub will have away from home terminals inside the Hub. Examples are Denver to Cheyenne and Pueblo to Dalhart. It is not the intent of this agreement to create seniority rights that interfere with these operations or to create double headed pools. For example, Denver will continue to be the home terminal for Denver-Cheyenne runs and Cheyenne will not have equity in these runs. The Denver-Rawlins run currently has no employees assigned to it. If this operation is reestablished at a later date the current Denver-Rawlins pool agreement will continue to apply with Denver as the home terminal.

G. All vacancies within the zones must be filled prior to any trainmen being reduced from the working list or prior to trainmen being permitted to exercise to any reserve board.

H. With the creation of the new seniority district all previous seniority outside the Denver Hub held by trainmen on the new rosters shall be eliminated and all seniority inside the Hub held by trainmen outside the Hub shall be eliminated.

I. Trainmen will be treated for vacation and payment of arbitraries as though all their service on their original railroad had been performed on the merged railroad.

J. Trainmen who have been promoted to Engine service and hold engine service seniority inside the Denver Hub and working therein on November 1, 1996, shall be placed on the appropriate roster(s) using their various trainmen seniority dates. Those Engine service employees, if any, who do not have a train service date in the Denver Hub shall be given one in accordance with the October 31, 1985 UTU National Agreement.