Revising Seniority

Historically, seniority has been a sacred issue in the labor movement. As former US Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall often said, "If there is to be loyalty from employees, there should be loyalty back."  But, times have changed.  Increasingly, public is beating unions up on this issue and unions find themselves on the wrong side of what has been cast as a social justice issue.

From the perspective of teacher unions, the issue has always been one of fairness and a recognition that without fair evaluation systems, reduction in force are end up being unpredicatable, attributed to personal bias, and damaging to staff morale.  In the context of the current reform environment, teacher unions are finding opportunities to give a bit on straight seniority in exchange for substantial improvements in evaluation systems. 

Two Examples

• In Maine School Administrative District #51, the union prepared to confront the topic of seniority at the bargaining table by forming alliances and partnerships and educating the community about the fundamentals of the issue. The result was new reduction in force language AND the outlines of a fair evaluation system.
• In Illinois, IEA, AFT, and CTU hammered out a consensus document Accountability for All provided a framework for a broader conversation with and among additional stakeholder groups and led to comprehensive legislation (Senate Bill 7) that includes fundamental changes in reduction in force policy and practice.

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