April 19, 1996          [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

                                 ____________________





        No. 95-2152



                                   ANDREW P. LORE,



                                Plaintiff, Appellant,



                                          v.



              MARVIN T. RUNYON, POSTMASTER GENERAL, UNITED STATES POSTAL

               SERVICE AGENCY AND VINCENT SOMBROTTO, PRESIDENT NATIONAL

                           ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS,



                                Defendants, Appellees.





                                 ____________________



                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT



                          FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS



                   [Hon. Reginald C. Lindsay, U.S. District Judge]
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                                 ____________________



                                        Before



                                Torruella, Chief Judge,
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                            Cyr and Stahl, Circuit Judges.
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            Andrew P. Lore on brief pro se.
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            Donald K. Stern, United States Attorney, and  George B. Henderson,
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        II, Assistant U.S. Attorney, on brief for Marvin T. Runyon, Postmaster
        __

        General, appellee.

            Peter D. DeChiara, Cohen,  Weiss and Simon, Christopher N. Souris,
            _________________  _______________________  _____________________

        and  Feinberg,  Charnas &  Birmingham, P.C.  on  brief for  Vincent R.
             ______________________________________

        Sombrotto, appellee.





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                      Per Curiam.  Appellant Andrew Lore appeals from the
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            grant of summary judgment in favor of Marvin Runyon, Jr., the



            United  States  Postmaster  General, and  Vincent  Sombrotto,



            President  of  the National  Association  of Letter  Carriers



            (NALC).  We affirm for the following reasons.  



                 1.  To  the extent Lore's  suit was  based on the  claim



            that the United States Postal Service failed to pay him fully



            for  his  military leave  in 1993  and  that NALC  refused to



            arbitrate  that issue,  it was  time-barred, as  the district



            court correctly  explained in  its order dated  September 15,



            1995.  We note as well  that Lore offered no evidence showing



            that   NALC's    refusal   to   arbitrate    was   arbitrary,



            discriminatory  or undertaken  in bad faith.   See  Miller v.
                                                           ___  ______



            U.S. Postal Service, 985 F.2d 9,  11 (1st Cir. 1993) (a union
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            breaches its duty of fair representation only if  its conduct



            is arbitrary,  discriminatory  or in  bad  faith)  (quotation



            marks and citation omitted).  To the contrary, NALC submitted



            evidence  showing  that its  decision  not  to arbitrate  was



            reasonable  and  undertaken in  good  faith.   Hence,  Lore's



            claims  against  appellees  were   meritless.    See  id.  (a
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            plaintiff's   failure  to   establish   the  union's   unfair



            representation defeats his connected breach of contract claim



            against his employer).



                 2.  To the  extent Lore's suit asserted that  the Postal



            Service had breached  its collective bargaining  agreement by







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            deducting time spent on military leave  from his annual leave



            without  his prior consent  and that NALC  had not vigorously



            arbitrated   that issue,  it was  dismissable for  failure to



            exhaust  available contractual  remedies.   See Hayes  v. New
                                                        ___ _____     ___



            England  Millwork Distributors,  Inc., 602  F.2d 15,  18 (1st
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            Cir. 1979).  At the time Lore  filed suit, arbitration on the



            annual  leave issue was pending.   Lore has  not described or



            documented  any specific  action  or inaction  by NALC  which



            unreasonably  delayed the arbitration  and which might excuse



            his obligation to exhaust his contractual remedies.



                 3.     Lore's claim  of  discrimination did  not  assert



            discrimination  on  the  basis  of a  protected  status,  but



            amounted essentially  to a claim that the  Postal Service had



            treated him differently than it had treated another employee.



            Such a claim  is not actionable.   See Jensen  v. Frank,  912
                                               ___ ______     _____



            F.2d 517, 520-21 (1st Cir. 1990).



                      Affirmed. 
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