<p>retire or ben terminated so motived emloyees could be hired but NO; union rules preclude this</p>
<p>That statement is not true. Union rules do not preclude someone from being fired. I have mentioned many times I work in a union/government environment and the only thing that stops people from being fired is poor documentation by management. That or just total neglect by the managers. I am a non-union manager managing a significant number of union workers and I accept responsibility for the performance or non-performance of my staff.</p>