Interesting to see the ACLU fighting the teachers unions on anything, but that's what they've been doing in LA on behalf of inner-city kids who were seeing more of their teachers laid off due to budget cuts than other schools were.
Right now lay-offs are solely determined by seniority, so thousands of brand spankin' new teachers, many of whom WANT to teach in inner-city schools because their commitment to equity brought them into teaching in the first place, are being laid off (up to 40K new-ish teachers received pink slips during the last two years in CA alone). Meanwhile teachers with tenure --- even some teachers who have been removed from the classroom!-- are safe no matter how effective or committed they are.
You have to read to the very end of the article to see what "major" change the unions agreed to though: they aren't getting rid of the "last hired, first fired" (with no respect to ability) policy, they are simply making sure that the lay-offs are spread around more. Education Week: that's not a "major departure". It's baby steps.