18
Collectively Bargained
Length-of-Service Benefits
Status attained owing to length of
service is a prized asset to the average
Worker, as it J may govern his claim
to a job in the event of reduction in
force, or hiS chancés for promotion to
a better job. Length of vacation or
sick leave, eligibility for a pension, or
selection for work on the day or the
“lobster’’ or “graveyard” shift are oth
er important benefits determined or
based on seniority.
To determine the prevalence of va
rious Hength-oL,service benefits which
make workers reluctant to transfer to
new jobs, 330 current collective-bar
gaining agreements covering over 4
million workers were analyzed by the
bureau of labor statistic^.
In the minds of many workers, the
rights and benefits acquired through
length of service serve as a strong de
terrent to changing jobs.
At a time of national emergency,
however, worker reluctance to lose
seniority by moving to other jobs —
while understandable from the indi
vidual worker’s standpoint — may
prevent the most effective allocation
of manpower. This is especially true
currently, wi'hen increasing defense
production at some plants and de
creasing civilian goods production at
others I call for a considerable degree
of labpr mobility. Payment of higher
wage rateé in defense industries tends
to overcome the reluctance of workers
to give up their old jobs, but this in
turn increases the difficulty of stabil
izing wages and preventing inflation
ary trends. I
Rights and benefits based on length
of service^ may be classified in two
categories: Hra Benefits or privileges
earned by an employee’s, length of
service without reference to length of
service of. other employees; these in
clude paid vacation, sick leave, and
automatic increases under a wage pro
gression plan. (2) Rights and benefits
which are determined by seniority
(i.e.; employee’s length of service rela
tive to each other); examples are
claims to jobs in event of lay-offs,
promotions, or transfers, and choice
of shift-
Unions generally favor seniority as
the governing factor in selecting em
ployees for lay-off, promotions, etc.
They maintain that a reasonably close
correlation exists between length of
service and efficiency ' and that merit
and other factors are too difficult
to measure objectively. A disadvan
tage of seniority, from the union
standpoint, is the possibility that it
may cause dissension among members.
Younger workers sometimes feel that
strict application of the seniority prin
ciple favors older workers at their ex
pense.
Many employers, on the other hand,
assert that to give seniority more
weight than merit tends to reduce ef-
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