Over the years, unions have treated worker seniority as gospel. The idea is that employees with the longest service have first crack at available jobs and the last man hired is the first to lose his job in case of layoffs. Now the United Auto Workers has put before Ford Motor Co. proposals for a radical change in seniority arrangements.
Both Ford and the U.A.W. are concerned about the fact that recent lay offs have hit hardest at low-seniority Negroes. To protect their jobs, the union proposed a system of "inverted senior ity" by which veterans could voluntarily take layoffs...