"Claim on behalf of the General Committee of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen on the Delaware and Hudson Railway Company:

1. Claim on behalf of J. L. Fargo for

reinstatement with full back pay on account

Carrier violated the current Signalmen's

Agreement, particularly Article 12, when it

dismissed the Claimant without conducting a

fair and impartial investigation."

The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, upon the whole record and all of the evidence, finds that:

The carrier or carriers and the employee or employees involved in this dispute are respectively carrier and employee within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as approved June 21, 1934.

This Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute involved herein.

Parties to said dispute were given due notice of hearing thereon.

After careful review of the record in this matter, the Board is compelled to find that we lack jurisdiction to consider the merits of the instant dispute. Nowhere does the record indicate that a conference was ever held or requested on the property. The absence of a conference requires us to find that the dispute has not been handled in accordance with the Railway Labor Act and Circular No. 1 of this Board. Accordingly, we have no choice but to dismiss this claim. See, e.g. Third Division Award 26867; Second Division Award 10421.

AWARD