Labor Law - The Law of a Balanced Society: A Reply to Professor Epstein

AuthorCraig Becker
PositionGeneral Counsel to the American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
Pages35-47
LABOR LAW—THE LAW OF A BALANCED SOCIETY: A
REPLY TO PROFESSOR EPSTEIN
CRAIG BECKER*
I. INTRODUCTION
Thank you Professor Smith and Capital University Law School for
inviting me to comment on the annual Sullivan Lecture. It is a particular
pleasure for me to comment on the lecture of my friend, Richard Epstein.
Because we are in Columbus where these things really matter, I should tell
you that Richard and I have played basketball together for years, and on
the court, Richard is truly a unique figure—a libertarian with a mean jump
shot.
Commenting on Richard’s lecture, I must begin with two hydraulic
metaphors. First, some years ago, Professor Geoffrey Stone, the former
Dean of the University of Chicago Law School and Provost of the
University, was speaking at an event honoring Richard and recounted a
student’s comment that taking notes in Richard’s class was like trying to
catch Niagara Falls with a thimble. Second, around the same time, I
presented a paper entitled, Labor Law Outside the Employment Relation,1
at the University of Chicago Law School Faculty Colloquium. The paper
described employer efforts to escape the employment relationship,2 and
with it, the corresponding legal duties and obligations as well as possible
legal responses to such efforts.3 When I finished, Richard raised his hand
and began his comment by saying, “You are trying to get water to run
uphill.” So here goes, not only trying to catch Niagara Falls with a
thimble, but then, again, trying to get the resulting thimble full of water to
run uphill.
Copyright © 2013, Craig Becker.
* Craig Becker is General Counsel to the American Federation of Labor & Congress of
Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). Between April 2010 and January 2012, he served as a
Member of the National Labor Relations Board. He has taught labor law and other subjects
at UCLA, Georgetown, and the University of Chicago law schools. He received his J.D.
from Yale Law School.
1 The paper was subsequently published. See Craig Becker, Labor Law Outside the
Employment Relation, 74 TEX. L. REV. 1527 (1996).
2 See id. at 1528–37.
3 See id. at 1537–61.

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