Don't Let Arnold Terminate the California Labor Centers!

On May 13, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released his May Revision of his 2004-05 Budget Proposal. Like his initial proposal last January, it contains severe cutbacks on services for poor and working people, including no budget for the Institute for Labor and Employment (ILE), the University of California research unit which funds the Labor Centers at UC Berkeley and UCLA.

It is outrageous that labor research is being singled out for elimination by the governor, while research for business and other concerns are left intact. The ILE has generated research for living wage policies, health care access, paid family leave, immigration policy, global outsourcing, and hundreds of other issues that affect working families. Its elimination is not only a direct attack on labor, but also a threat to academic freedom.

Beginning on May 17, the California legislature’s subcommittees will be meeting to consider Schwarzenegger’s "May Revise." It is crucial that legislators hear from concerned citizens as soon as possible about opposition to elimination of the ILE.

Those who wrote letters last January contributed to a groundswell of public opinion that reverberated throughout the California legislature. Thousands of letters were sent through SLAP. Even if you wrote a letter then, it’s important to write one again now, so that the legislators understand that the public is watching their actions at this critical juncture.  Please send the letter below to California's legislative leaders, and ask them to stop this attack!

Schwarzenegger’s decision will destroy the efforts of the labor and social justice movement to establish a research and education institute for working people within the UC system. The Institute’s programs include paid student internships with unions, labor education courses, and critical research on living wage initiatives and issues facing garment workers, farm workers, and other low wage workforces.

There is still be a chance to block this decision in the state legislature. Please contact California Senate President Pro Tem John Burton and Assembly Speaker Herb Wessen, and ask them to defend labor at the University of California against Arnold’s right wing power grab. The University and its programs should serve the needs of working people, not just powerful corporations.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Stop the Attack on the UC Institute for Labor and Employment!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to voice concern about the Governor?s lack of funding for the UC Institute for Labor and Employment in his May Revise. The ILE has provided valuable research and educational activities for labor unions and workers throughout California, and should not be eliminated. As a publicly funded institution, the University of California should be accessible to all the members of the community, not only the business interests.

The proposal to eliminate ILE is politically motivated, unwarranted and unfair. I urge you to support full funding for the ILE for the upcoming 2004 - 2005 budget.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
December 02, 2003


Background Information

The UC Institute for Labor and Employment was established in 2000 with an annual budget of $6 million.  By 2003, the annual budget had been reduced to $4 million, a reduction of over 33%.  Now the Governor has proposed that the current year ILE budget which had been approved in August be cut by $2 million effective January 1st and eliminated entirely in the fiscal year that begins July 1st, 2004.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s act will mean that all twenty-eight staff members funded by the Institute may be laid off immediately. The decision would also terminate all of the Institutes research and education programs, including: the California Union Leadership School, the Labor Summer internships program, the Healthcare Working Group, programs on immigration, globalization, black workers, and regional economic development, and young workers, and dozens of other important projects that bridge the gap between the university and the labor movement.

The Institute for Labor and Employment is the only statewide program within the University of California that specifically addresses the labor and employment concerns of California’s workers. The ILE's current budget is only $4 million, a small fraction of the more than $31 million that business schools get from state funds! And as you may have guessed, no business school was singled out for 100% reduction.