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

This claim involves an application of the protective provisions of the National Agreement of February 7, 1965, as amended by the provisions of Article VII of the National Agreement dated June 4, 1991. There is no disagreement between the parties relative to the fact situation which exists in this dispute.

The Organization insists that the 1991 amendments to the 1965 Employee Protection Agreement support the claim as made. It argues that this dispute involves an interpretation of the 1991 Agreement and that this Board has jurisdiction to interpret the 1991 Agreement.

The Carrier contends that the 1991 amendments to the 1965 Employee Protection Agreement have been complied with as they apply to the Claimant and that. in any event, this Board lacks jurisdiction to interpret any of the provisions of the 1965 Agreement in any form including the 1991 amendments thereto.

There is no question but that Article VII of the June 4, 1991 Agreement did, in fact, make revisions in the provisions of certain portions of the February 7, 1965 Agreement. The language of Article VII of the June 4, 1991 Agreement is clear and explicit. It reads as follows:

"ARTICLE VII - PROTECTED EMPLOYEES

(a) Article I, Section 1 of the February 7, 1965 Agreement shall be amended to read as follows:

`Section 1 - All employees, other than seasonal employees, who were in active service as of the date of this Agreement or who subsequently return to active service and who had ten (10) or more years' employment relationship as of the date of this Agreement will be retained in service subject to compensation as herein provided unless or until retired. discharged for cause, or otherwise removed by natural attrition. For the purpose of this Agreement, the term "active service" is defined to include all employees working, or holding an assignment, or in the process of transferring from one assignment to another (whether or not the date of this Agreement was a work day).'

amended to read as follows:

`Section 2 - Seasonal emplovees, who had compensated service during each of the years 1988, 1989 and 1990 who otherwise meet the definition of "protected" employees under Section 1 will be offered employment in future years at least equivalent to what they performed in 1990, unless or until retired, discharged for cause, or otherwise removed by natural attrition.'

(c) Article V, paragraph 2, shall be amended to change the reference of a four hundred dollar (S400) transfer allowance to eight hundred dollars ._

For this Board to render a decision on the merits of this dispute would require that we make an interpretation of the provisions of the February 7, 1965 Agreement, as amended. Clearly, such authority is not vested with this Board which has consistently refused to accept jurisdiction in situations which are subject to explicit dispute resolution procedures of other negotiated agreements such as the February 7, 1965 Agreement. Some of the many decisions in this regard are Third Division Awards 28219, 27103, 27100, 26006 and 23043. Therefore, this claim is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

AWARD