Highlander Newspaper

Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Sacremento Central Labor Council

With the UC System facing a reduction of $813 million in state funding, cuts in academic programs, cuts in employment and increases in tuition are inevitable. One of the areas specifically targeted for cuts by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and UC administrators is labor studies. The Miguel Contreras Labor Program and UC Labor Centers on the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses are in danger of elimination. The Labor Center at UCLA, which has made many valuable contributions to the labor movement and labor research, is in particular jeopardy. Cuts must be made somewhere, but what is disturbing about the loss in funding to these programs is that the evidence suggests they are politically motivated.

For the last five years, Governor Schwarzenegger has attempted to eliminate funding for UC labor programs. Previously, his efforts have been defeated by supporters of the programs and advocates in the legislature, but last fall he was successful in cutting labor studies funding to the tune of $5.4 million, its entire state funding. UC President Mark Yudof stepped in to allot enough money to keep the programs running for the 2008 to 2009 fiscal year and recently the state legislature, compromising with Schwarzenegger, has allotted $2 million to the entire program for the 2009 to 2010 fiscal year.

Schwarzenegger's repeated attempts to eliminate the entire UC labor studies funding suggest that there is more than simply balancing the budget motivating his actions. After all, with an $813 million deficit, the $5.4 million needed to fund the program is only a drop in the bucket. Of all programs, why has the labor program- which has a miniscule budget in comparison to many others- been singled out for elimination?

The answer seems to be politics. Schwarzenegger has been pressured by right wing Republicans and other opponents of unions and the labor movement to eliminate the UC labor program. Supporters of the program have pointed out that while Schwarzenegger and UCLA administrators have cut the university's Labor Center to the point where its very existence hangs in a delicate balance, no cuts of this magnitude have been made to the university's much larger business program. This echoes the overrepresentation of corporate interests throughout the government and the underrepresentation of labor interests. The UCLA Labor Institute, prior to the funding reduction, had a mere 20 staff members in comparison to the business program, which boasts more than 100.

Currently, the UCLA program is running on about half of its normal $3 million budget. The UCLA Labor Center receives $1 million of the $2 million allotted for labor programs throughout the UC system and the rest of its funding comes directly from the university itself or from grants.

The UCLA Labor Center has conducted research on issues such as labor laws, immigrant workers, undocumented students and green jobs. This research has been used by various government officials to produce political results in these areas. The program also provides labor organizations and unions with access to university resources and educates the future leaders of these organizations.

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