Affirmative Action has been a way for the federal government to favor one class of people over another. The fact is, that in order to use Affirmative Action to favor minorities and women against white males in the workplace, jobs must first be integrated with both minorities and whites. For no one can separate apples and oranges if there are no apples! In the case of Firefighters Local Union No. 1784 v. Stotts (1984). The Memphis fire department was found in violation of Title VII and was under court order to hire and promote more blacks to make amends for past discrimination. Later, anticipating a budget deficit, the city planned to lay off public employees with the least seniority, and that action would have mostly affected recently hired black firemen. Stotts, a black fireman challenging the proposed personnel actions, received a favorable decision from the federal court, which granted an injunction enjoining the Fire Department from strictly adhering to seniority in layoffs. As a result, the union appealed to protect its seniority plan and white union members. The Burger Court reversed the lower court by ruling that because no intentional discrimination had been proved, Title VII protects bona fid seniority systems, and it is inappropriate to deny an innocent employee the benefits of his seniority in order to pr! provide a remedy in a pattern of practiced [discrimination] suit such as this (Janosilk 1205). So from then on jhgjjthe court upheld that even if an individual shows that the discriminatory practice has an impact on him/her, the court noted, he/she is not automatically entitled to have a non minority employee laid off to make room for him (Janosilk 1205). One of the most historic Affirmative Action decisions in employment in the 1970's was United Steelworkers of America v. Weber. In this case tan on-the-job Affirmative action agreement was collectively bargained by the Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation and the Unite...
