International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) Local 709 voted to end a strike against the Marietta plant of Lockheed- Georgia Company. The contract that was agreed on contained a wage increase of about 13 percent and improved retirement, insurance, and other benefits. The company also agreed to pay employees for the seven days over the Christmas holidays and the two days over the Thanksgiving holidays that were missed during the strike. For the Marietta workers, the main issue was their right to “ bump” workers with less seniority from projects during times when there are not enough jobs to go around. Lockheed officials claimed the bumping procedure, whereby an employee having at least one day’s seniority over another could take the junior’s job, would hurt production so badly that it could force the company to abandon projects. Lockheed’s initial proposal had been that an employee without at least three months’ seniority over the junior employee would not be allowed to bump. After the union rejected this proposal, the company proposed to change the seniority requirement to at least one month. At that point, negotiations broke down. The last Lockheed offer, which was accepted, was that the seniority system remain the same for all current Lockheed employees. However, anyone hired after Lockheed’s offer was accepted would have to have at least one month’s seniority to be able to bump another worker.
questions
1. Why do you think unions insisted on seniority as the criterion in the preceding example?
2. Do you think seniority should be used in any process within a company? Why or why not?