(Arthur Myrum PARTIES TO DISPUTE: (REA Express, Inc.

 STATEMENT OF CLAIM: This is to serve notice, as required by the rules of
 the National Railroad Adjustment Board, of my inten
 tion to file an ex parte submission on (30 days from date of this notice)
 covering an unadjusted dispute between me and the R. E. A. Waukegan,
 Illinois. I am a member of B. R. A. C. Lakeside Lodge.

 Claim involves loss of position, vacation pay, hospital, life. insurance and disability benefits. Rule 87 of Agreement covers this.

 OPINION OF BOARD: The record of this dispute indicates that neither Claim
 ant nor his Organization filed a Claim or appealed it as
 required by Rule 11 of the controlling Agreement, Section 3, First (i) of the
 Railway Labor Act provides in part that disputes "...shall be handled in the
 usual manner up to and including the chief operating officer of the carrier
 designated to handle such disputes;..." Circular No. 1 of the National Rail
 road Adjustment Board prohibits consideration of any dispute by this Board
 unless it has been handled in accordance with the Railway Labor Act.

 Under these circumstances this claim has not been properly presented, the merits may not be considered and it will be dismissed. (See Awards 19777, 19812, 20091, and 20224).

 FINDLYGS: The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, after giving the par
 ties to this dispute due notice of hearing thereon, and upon the
 whole record and all the evidence, finds and holds:

 That the Carrier and the Employes involved in this dispute are respectively Carrier and Employes within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as approved June 21, 1934;

 That this Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute involved herein; and








        ATTEST: Executive Secretary


Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 21st day ofFebruary 1975.