During this unit we will review several common contract provisions and explore why they are important to the employees, the unions, and to management, especially in the educational environment. As we have discussed, seniority is an important provision for many union negotiators, as a key leveraging tool. Presently, the last-hired-first-fired school of thought is being hotly debated in public education, unions, and management meetings. Unions consistently take the stance that seniority should be the only factor in job loss due to layoffs. Many politicians and their constituents have begun to question the wisdom of this method and have recommended that school districts move to a layoff procedure based upon job performance, rather than seniority.

What do you think about this issue?