Industrial Relations and the Seniority Model of Union Behaviour.

This paper provides a critique of the seniority model of union behavior where unions are characterized by flat ind ifference curves on the assumption of layoffs and redundancies being determined by order of inverse seniority. The critique focuses on the internal inconsistencies of the model itself and on data on redundan cies from both Britain and the United States which contradict the ass umption of inverse seniority. This data suggests a number of reasons why the model was rejected in a recent econometric test on the Britis h coal and steel industries. Copyright 1988 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd