Controversial think tank fights to survive
East Bay Business Journal
February 6, 2004 print edition
David Goll
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to whack state funding for the University of California's Institute of Labor and Employment has both sides agreeing on one thing at least - it's all about politics.
Staff members at the institute accuse the new governor of kowtowing to Republicans and big business, who they say have been gunning for the research organization since its inception in 2000.
"We are the only program in the University of California system targeted for removal," said Peter Olney, associate director of the institute, who works in its UC-Berkeley office, one of two in the system. The second is at UCLA, where the think tank's director, Ruth Milkman, works.
"Other programs will certainly be hard hit by this budget proposal, but we are slated for total elimination," Olney said.
But supporters of the move say the institute is in trouble only because of its partisan use of public funds - no matter what political leanings it may have.
"Our argument is not so much with the positions they advocate as with the kind of research they are conducting," said Andrew Gloger, public policy fellow at San Francisco think tank, the Pacific Research Institute (PRI).
"Public tax dollars are funding this research, which we regard as noncore academic activities at the university. Tax dollars for a publicly supported university should go into funding classroom programs."
Schwarzenegger wants to halve the UC institute's $4 million budget this year and completely eliminate it in his proposed 2004-2005 state budget.
The institute was created during the first administration of Gov. Gray Davis when the state Legislature was controlled by Democrats, as is still the case. It was set up to study labor and employment problems in California and the nation, and find solutions for them.
Its current research focuses on job growth and economic development, immigration and work and family issues.
"We have been identified by business interests as being strongly allied with labor unions," Olney said. "It's true we believe it's one of our rights as Americans that we be able to form labor unions. Our (opponents) seem to believe trade unions should not exist."
As proof of the purported political motivation behind the institute's elimination, Olney said none of Schwarzenegger's proposed $372 million cuts for the UC system are planned for such programs as UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business nor the Anderson (business) School at UCLA.
Olney said the institute has conducted research on the efficiency and benefits of project labor agreements, the effectiveness of apprenticeship programs in developing a well-trained future work force and the advantages of paying living wages to workers in the construction trades.
Advocating on behalf of labor, Olney said, has drawn the ire not only of members of the Schwarzenegger administration, but of powerful business organizations such as the Association of Building Contractors and conservative think tanks such as the Pacific Research Institute and the Manhattan Institute.
Gloger of the Pacific Research Institute said that, because California labor unions collect $880 million annually in dues from their members, "surely there is $4 million in there to fund the ILE's activities."
Along with research conducted by professors and graduate students, the UC institute also sponsors seminars on union organizing, union leadership skills and the growing movement among California cities to pass ordinances requiring payment of "living wages" of about $10 an hour to those on the lower end of the wage scale.
"There's a real advocacy element to its work," Gloger said. "The leadership is tied to organized labor."
While Davis already had reduced the UC institute's original annual funding of $6 million to $4 million, it's unlikely that the Democrat would have pushed for its elimination to help bridge the state's gaping budget deficit, Olney said.
"Four-million dollars doesn't make much dent in the state's huge deficit, which leads us to believe even more that this has more to do with politics than with closing a budget gap," Olney said. "This whole thing is being driven by the right-wing ideologues who have surrounded (Schwarzenegger)."
Despite the gloomy outlook, Olney said Institute staff members are not resigned.
"We're fighting for our survival," he said, adding that the institute is seeking help from labor unions, supporters in the Legislature and UC officials.
"At this point, we are trying to survive until June 30 so we can at least have a chance at being put back into the 2005 state budget," he said.
Reach Goll at dgoll@bizjournals.com or 925-598-1436.
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