Staff members working under the University of California
Institute of Labor and Employment continue to go to work every day
coordinating research and educational programs, knowing that in
only a few months, many of them will be jobless.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts for the
2004-2005 fiscal year include a complete cut in funding to the ILE,
which provides most of the funds for the UCLA Labor Center.
The center’s activities include research on employment and
labor issues, educational programming, classes, internships and
coordinating events on campus, and outreach programs in the Los
Angeles community.
Many or all of these programs may be lost, but ILE-funded staff
members will be the most directly affected by the proposed cut.
Eight of the 11 employees currently working in the institute will
receive lay-off notices on May 1.
The UC has agreed to support the salaries of the staff who are
funded by the ILE, but only until the end of the spring quarter,
when these staff members will be out of a job.
“It’s a terrible position for the staff to be
in,” said Larry Frank, staff director at the center.
Frank has been working at the labor center since its inception
four years ago and helped build the institute from the ground up.
Along with seven colleagues, Frank has been told he will receive a
pink slip in the spring.
Frank said he and other staff members have chosen to commit
themselves to the department, regardless of the uncertainties.
“The staff is extremely dedicated to the
organization,” Frank said, “We’re going to gut it
out.”
But other staff members could not commit to such an unstable
position and chose not to continue their work in the institute,
said Janice Amar, ILE chief of staff.
“Some of the staff felt that it was just too much of a
risk for them personally,” Amar said, adding that they
transferred to other, more stable positions.
The employee reduction, which has already begun and will
intensify after the May layoffs, will put added pressure on faculty
members who do not lose their jobs.
In addition to the decrease in programs directly due to the
budget cuts, the staff reduction will make it more difficult for
those still at the center to be productive. The elimination of
funding could also threaten to undo the staff’s work over the
past four years.
“If (the ILE) doesn’t get funded, so much of the
work that we’ve been doing gets lost,” Frank said,
adding that he was sad about the possibility of losing four
years’ worth of work toward building an organization.
The ILE staff is trying as much as possible to continue as
though there will be funding for next year, said Kent Wong,
director of the labor center.
“It requires a certain amount of living in denial, in
terms of that you have to focus on your work,” Frank
said.
Many on staff have expressed a belief that the ILE has been
unfairly singled out.
The ILE is one of only two programs targeted for elimination in
the 2004-2005 budget, and many staff members feel they have been
unfairly chosen based in part on the nature of the program. The
proposal also included the elimination of state funding to outreach
programs.
“The consensus is that this is an unfair and unwarranted
attack,” Wong said. “It sends a very bad message that
those programs that try to outreach to … underprivileged
communities are the ones that are under attack.”
The ILE is working with the state Legislature and faculty from
all UC campuses to receive funds in next year’s budget, which
may be the department’s only hope, Frank said.
“We’re not asking for special treatment, we’re
just asking for no special mistreatment,” he said.
Because of support from state Legislature members and UC
faculty, Wong thinks it is likely the ILE will receive at least
some state funding.
“We are guardedly optimistic that we will be able to
retain our funding,” Wong said. “We’re planning
as if we’re going to get our funding back.”
The staff is optimistic the ILE will receive some state funding,
but it has sought out other means of support, including
fund-raisers, meetings with the state Legislature, publications,
conferences and educational events.
But whatever happens next year, the budget proposal has already
done damage to the center.
“We have had to discontinue funding for a number of the
activities that would normally have gotten funding,” Amar
said.
Programs that have already been suspended include grants for
post-doctoral work and research.
To compensate for the losses, the institute will need to
dedicate time and energy to rebuilding the staff and restarting the
programs that have been suspended, Amar said.
The cuts are expected to go into effect after a state budget is
passed in the summer.