In an interview published last week in Seminarian Casual, Justice Alito offered some important remarks about work-life balance.  Asked how he has managed to balance “work and family life,” Alito answered:

I have been fortunate to have jobs that allowed me to control my work schedule to a very great degree.  As an appellate judge, I have had to work very long hours, but I have largely been able to choose when and where I have done my work.  I think I attended just about every one of my kids’ athletic events, concerts, and school programs.  That often meant saving my work for late at night and weekends, but I was able to do that.  Very few people today have this luxury, and it is hard for busy people to balance work and family life.  Our society needs to do a better job of making this possible.

As OnLabor readers will be aware, unions play a critical role in making possible the kind of life that Alito rightly celebrates.  Evidence for this union effect is available here, here, here, here and here.  Alito himself has the capacity to enable unions to play this role, and thus to ensure that our society does a better job allowing more of us to balance work and family life.

(Thanks to Andrew Strom for calling this to our attention.)