SACRAMENTO — Of the hundreds of research institutes in California's public university system, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has targeted just one for elimination: a think tank dedicated to organized labor.
It is the scourge of conservatives and industry groups. They call it "Union U" and charge that the institute has been used to train union "thugs" to beat up political opponents.
But to founders, the Institute for Labor and Employment, based at UCLA and UC Berkeley, is a place where union leaders and academics can come together to explore workforce issues and trends.
The fate of the small institute is taking a prominent role in a high-stakes budget battle in Sacramento and a national debate over the place of organized labor in university classrooms, fueled by charges that the programs are merely a training ground for union activists.
On his own authority in December, Schwarzenegger cut $2 million from the institute -- what remained of its allocation through the current fiscal year, which ends in June. He has proposed eliminating it entirely next year. And even if the Legislature includes it in the budget, he can take out the $4-million program before signing the spending plan.
The governor's office directed questions to the Department of Finance, where a spokesman denied the cut was politically motivated.
"It wasn't targeted," said H.D. Palmer, adding that industry and conservative groups had played no role in the decision. "To my knowledge, there was zero interaction with any of those type of groups."
But John J. Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, calls Schwarzenegger's proposal part of a "conservative attack to cut labor studies programs."
The state's labor center, created under former Gov. Gray Davis in 2001 and well-liked by Democratic legislative leaders, holds workshops on how to increase union membership, get more at the bargaining table and fight globalization. It sponsors interdisciplinary research on a range of workplace topics, from gender discrimination and family leave to the role of unions in the new economy.
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich says "the information they provide has been extremely useful. They look at the entire labor market and ask hard questions about why the labor market looks the way it does, how it is evolving and how it could evolve."
