(a)    There shall be four (4) seniority groups; namely, Journeyperson 1's, Journeyperson 1 Apprentices, Journeyperson Production Workers and Journeyperson Production Workers in progression.  For the purpose of layoffs or reductions in work force, preference shall be given the senior employee who is capable of performing the work in their group and the employee with the shortest seniority standing in their group shall be laid off first and in rehiring, the employee with the longest seniority in the group shall be rehired first.  Provided, however, that all Journeyperson 1's shall have seniority over all Journeyperson 1 Apprentices, Journeyperson Production Workers and Journeyperson Production Workers in progression.

Provided further, however, that an Apprentice Journeyperson 1 within ratio as set forth in Section 20. (d) who has an earlier date of hiring as an indentured apprentice, then a Journeyperson 1 shall hold seniority for the purpose of determining the order of layoff; and provided further, a Journeyperson Production Worker who has an earlier date of hiring than a Journeyperson 1 shall hold seniority for the purpose of determining the order of layoff.  The foregoing shall govern in all cases except when a noticeable, marked degree of disparity exists with respect to ability, qualifications and skill in the classification involved.

(b)    An employee having less than six (6) months  seniority with an Employer shall be removed from the seniority list when temporary layoff exceeds one (1) year.  Employees having more than  six (6) months of seniority with an Employer shall be removed from the seniority list when layoff exceeds two (2) years.

Employees having more than the (10) years of seniority with an Employer shall receive the additional protection of two (2) months for each additional year of service with no maximum.

Such employees shall report back to work within reasonable notice of at least three (3) days if the layoff has been for over two (2) weeks.  If the layoff has been for a lesser period, they shall report back as notified.  Longer periods of notification will be given if the Employer can give such advance notice.  Notification will be given in accord with the record left by the employee with the Employer.  Failure to respond will terminate all seniority privileges.  The Employer must, within seven (7) days give both the employee involved and the Union written notice of the removal of any employee from the seniority list.

(c)   Employees shall be regarded as temporary employees for the first thirty (30) days of their employment.  There shall be no responsibility for the re-employment of temporary employees if they are discharged or laid off during this period.  After an employee has worked thirty (30) successive shifts or has worked thirty (30) shifts, including Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays, in a continuous sixty (60) day period, the name of such employee shall then be placed on the Seniority List for their respective classifications in order of date of hiring and such employees shall then be entitled to all the benefits of this Contract.

Notwithstanding anything herein contained to the contrary, employees who are not regular full-time employees as defined by Section 24., shall, for wage purposes only, be entitled to credit for all time worked for employers who are signatories to an Agreement in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.  As each such employee reports for work, the Employer will provide an application form on which the employee will insert all previous employment experience for which the employee claims credit should be given.  No credit will be given for any experience not shown on the application.  The Employer will have the right to verify the experience.  However, the burden of proving experience claimed will be on the employee in the event the Employer questions the information supplied, after attempting verification.  Days of experience need not be successive.  In computing the appropriate wage rate of such employees, twenty-one (21) shifts worked will constitute one (1) month within the meaning of Section 4.

(d)    Seniority Lists shall be made available upon the request of the Shop Steward and a copy of the Seniority List kept current and sent to the Union office at least once a year as of February 28.

(e)    When the Employer becomes aware of a pending temporary layoff, they will notify affected employees with seniority no later than the first two (2) hours of their last work shift.  The Shop Steward will also be notified.

(f)    A regular full time employee, as defined in Section 24, who loses their job as a result of the closing of the bindery operations of the printing plant will receive as severance pay, one (1) week of pay for each three (3) years of service with the Employer with a minimum of two (2) weeks pay and a maximum of six (6) weeks pay. Severance pay does not apply if the employee is transferred to or offered comparable employment in the Twin Cities metro area on or before his/her last day of work.

(g)    The Employer shall be notified by the Union, in writing, of the identity of the Shop Steward.