I don’t anyone wants to discount seniority completely.
Teachers with experience are a good thing, and experience is a difficult quality to measure. Seniority isn’t necessarily the same thing, but it probably has enough correlation that it should be considered.
Plus, I can sympathize with those who are in the high income brackets of their careers not wanting to be fired purely so new hires at lower income levels can replace them for less money.
But, unions have for decades operated under the banner of “seniority uber alles”. That is the problem. Seniority trumps everything, including common sense.
Excellent points.