The Union of Law and Literature: A Novel Approach to Honoring Workers’ Rights

Dale Brodsky, Esq.

Finding common ground between CELA members who practice plaintiff-side employment law and union-side labor law not always has been easy. Unions sometimes are viewed with distrust for not advocating strongly enough on behalf of individuals; on the flip side, those representing plaintiffs sometimes are viewed with distrust for ignoring the role unions historically have played in advancing workers’ rights. Last year, the CELA Board formed a task force with a goal of forging alliances between these two important constituents.

While there are any number of ways to build bridges, one approach in the Bay Area has been to form a book group. To that end, a cadre of Bay Area CELA members (and some hearty ringers) has been meeting since last December. The discussions have been lively, thought-provoking, community-building, and fun! Literature can be a very useful tool in helping us understand the human condition, not to mention, how and why unions came to be.

So far, the group has read and discussed Germinal, Emile Zola’s novel about a coal strike in France in the 1860’s, and In Dubious Battle, John Steinbeck’s 1936 novel about a strike in the cotton fields of California. The group’s next selection is Oil, by Upton Sinclair, which will be discussed on March 29 at the Law Offices of Beeson Tayer & Bodine in Old Oakland. (Oil was the inspiration for the 2007 film, “There Will Be Blood.”) Book group participants are especially good at multi-tasking; in addition to talking about books, we eat and imbibe! If you’re interested in attending or have questions, please contact Dale Brodsky at dbrodsky@beesontayer.com.