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Funded by Californian taxpayers and the university since 1964, the UCLA Labor Center’s purpose is to “bridge the university and the Los Angeles labor community,” according to director Kent Wong.

However, the center’s activities – one-sided advocacy work for union interests – are inappropriate for a department funded by the university which exists to benefit the whole public.

The center regularly propagandizes with public funds; it puts on partisan conferences, such as last year’s “Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” panel, reported in the Daily Bruin.

Though the center’s Web site states the event was balanced and that it “identified Wal-Mart’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats,” the conference’s obvious bias was made clear by the closing session, which taught participants campaign strategies for preventing Wal-Mart stores from opening in their areas.

According to Wal-Mart representatives, Wal-Mart was invited by the labor center just a month before the conference, and – unlike union members that attended – Wal-Mart was not included in the planning of the conference or allowed to participate in any of the workshop sessions.

In fact, the center’s resources have been used directly to campaign against Wal-Mart in a Rosemead election, according to Steven Ly, general area consultant in the pro-Wal-Mart campaign.

Labor center representatives even went as far as appealing to the local Catholic church (Saint Anthony’s) to oppose Wal-Mart’s presence in the area.

“They were saying that if you’re a good Catholic, you should be against Wal-Mart,” Ly said. Kent Wong refused to comment.

The partisan nature of the research conducted by the labor center is just as transparent; the center’s motto is “Research for action. Education for change.” However, the center’s own motto reveals that the research it conducts is a sham, because it is carried out for the purpose of “action.”

Of course, the university shouldn’t shy away from studying political or divisive issues. Even though controversy may result from academic endeavors, research should be shielded from the whims of popular opinion.

But research and activism conducted to support a political cause deserves no such exception.

The center’s activities are largely comprised of training aspiring union activists. Even the center’s publications are based on appeals for social change.

The extent of the center’s educational offerings is an interdisciplinary minor (made up of courses in other departments) and internships for “workplace studies.”

Yet unions have little to do with the American workplace. Across the country, membership in unions – both public and private – has declined. In 2005, it had fallen to 12.5 percent, down from 20.1 percent in 1983. Among private non-governmental workers, union membership fell as low as 7.8 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Workers – who are increasingly finding it against their interests to participate in unions – don’t view the workplace as a battle between unions and employers.

The center, in its attempts to justify the academic relevance of its pro-union activism on the basis of workplace studies, finds itself on shaky ground.

It is clear then that the labor center serves little purpose other than to pander to union interests and promote political agendas.

This is hardly a role fit for a public university, which exists to further research and education, not partisan causes. Through its activities, the center attacks business and consumer interests in UCLA’s name.

The labor center, which derives its legitimacy from its endorsement by the university, ultimately stains the UCLA’s reputation. By financing single-minded, divisive activism under the guise of scholarship, the university harms its image as a research university.

UCLA would do well to distance itself from the labor center. Its controversial pro-union activism ought to be paid for by those who believe in its causes. By removing its name from the center, the university would reveal its devotion to the pursuit of ideas rather than partisan causes.

If unions get you hot and bothered, e-mail Lazar at dlazar@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.