NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number MS-24061F
(Gary L. Cook
PARTIES TO DLSPIlDr
Kansas City Terminal Railway Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "this is to serve notice, as required by the rules of
the National Railroad Adjustment Board, of my intention
to file an ex parte submission on (30 days from date of this notice) covering
an unadjusted dispute between me and the Kansas City Terminal Railway company
involving the question:
claim# SG-1.80.11IU Case
# 5505."
OPINION OF BOARD: This petition is not properly before the Board and may
not be considered by us.
As the record discloses that the claim was not first presented on
the property and that no conference at that level was requested or held, we
must find that this dispute was not handled "in the usual manner" as required
by Section 3, First (i), of the Railway Labor Act.
Accordingly, the Board is barred from proceeding with the merits of
this claim, and the claim must be dismissed.
Numerous awards of the Board over the years have established that the
Railway Labor Act vests authority is this Board to consider and decide the
merits of a dispute only after the prerequisite statutory procedure on the
property has been followed.
The plain purpose of the statutory requirement is to encourage the
parties themselves in informal face-to-face conference discussion on the
property to arrive at their own adjustment of the dispute in an amicable way
at the earliest possible time. When these efforts fail, then the right of
formal referral of the dispute to this Board becomes available to the parties.
That right is not now available to the petitioner.
FINDINGS: The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, upon the whole record
and all the evidence, finds and holds:
That the parties waived anal hearing;
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;
Award Number 23871 Page 2
Docket Number MS-24064
That this Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over
the dispute involved herein; and
That the claim is barred.
A W A R D
Claim dismissed.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
Attest: Acting Executive Secretary
National Railroad Adjustment Board
BY
Rosemarie Brasch - Administrative Assistant
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 13th day of May, 1982.
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