However, we have our own bottom line of income and job security, the Feb. 7 Job Protection Agreement, that gives us some protection against the financial manipulations of these mega-carriers.

Recently, Special Board of Adjustment No. 1087, created by the BMWE and the National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC) as the exclusive forum for deciding questions about the Job Protection Agreement, issued several important decisions related to the scope of the guarantees provided under the Agreement and the means to claim those guarantees.

There are two types of protected employees under the Feb. 7 Agreement-- regularly assigned and seasonal.

A regularly assigned, protected employee is one who held a bulletined assignment on September 26, 1996, or who later obtained a regular assignment, and who is not seasonal. A regularly assigned employee carries a protected rate that is the rate of the job held on September 26, 1996 or the date he or she reached ten years of service. (On BNSF only, the carrier was permitted by SBA No. 1087 to classify certain regularly assigned employees as multi-rate protected based upon their employment histories during 1993, 1994, and 1995. The next issue of the Journal will contain an article explaining the application of the multi-rate guarantee on BNSF.) That protected rate is increased by all subsequent general wage increases.

A seasonal employee is an employee who averaged less than 11 days of employment in any one month during the calendar years 1993, 1994, and 1995. (Example: Employee "A" worked 2 days in January 1993, 10 days in January 1994, and 15 days in January 1995 for a total of 27 days worked in January over 3 years. That figure divided by 3 provides an average of 9 days worked in January 1993-1995. Employee "A" is a seasonal employee.) The difference in classification between regularly assigned and seasonal affects the level of protection provided under the Agreement.

Regularly assigned employees are guaranteed full-time employment and compensation at their guaranteed rate for the rest of their railroad career. The guarantee is removed only through death, resignation, dismissal for cause or failure to obtain or retain a position through the exercise of seniority.

A regularly assigned employee has 60 days from the end of the month in which he or she claims compensation to file a claim for benefits. Any regularly assigned employee who was forced to a lower-rated position as a result of these job cuts has a claim for the difference between his or her protected rate and the rate of the position currently held.

If you are regularly assigned and could not hold a job, you have a claim both for the wages you lost and for reinstatement to a full-time, regularly assigned position.

Seasonal employees are guaranteed in each calendar year the same number of days worked in 1997. Seasonal employees also have a protected rate, that is the rate of the job you held on September 1996 or whenever you obtain 10 years of service with a carrier.

SBA No. 1087 determined that seasonal employees must submit their claims for compensation at the end of each calendar year. The following examples are for claims by seasonal employees: Employee A is seasonal and worked 150 days in 1997 and has a protected rate as a Machine Operator at $16.00 per hour. If Employee A works 160 days in 1998, he or she has no claim. If Employee A works 145 days in 1998, he or she has a claim for 5 days (8 hours a day) at $16.00. Finally, if Employee A worked 150 days in 1997 but all of them were at the Trackman's rate, Employee "A" has no claim for compensation because the carrier provided him or her with 150 days of work opportunity during the year.

We are negotiating an amended claims handling procedure to deal with the seasonal guarantee claims following SBA's No. 1087 decisions. Next month's Journal will provide an update on that grievance procedure.