Why are taxpayers forced to pay for a university think tank devoted to exploring union issues, and, in essence, supporting their special- interest causes? The organization is called the Institute for Labor and Employment and is attached to the University of California, Berkeley, and UCLA.

Fortunately, taxpayers might soon be free of this objectionable expense. There's certainly nothing wrong with labor unions preparing studies and presenting their views, but the effort should be funded privately.

"On his own authority in December, Schwarzenegger cut $2 million from the institute - what remained of its allocation through the current fiscal year, which ends in June," reported the Los Angeles Times. "He has proposed eliminating it entirely next year. And even if the Legislature includes it in the budget, he can take out the $4 million program before signing the spending plan."

The Institute for Labor and Employment is "devoted to studying, and finding solutions for, problems of labor and employment in California and the nation," according to its Web site.

The Pacific Research Institute's analysis is more persuasive. Last June, the conservative think tank gave its Golden Fleece Award for waste in government to the institute. It noted organized labor had helped push into law such jobs-killer legislation as "paid family leave, changes in overtime rules, and a living-wage law [and that a] driving force behind labor's successful political movement" had been the Institute for Labor and Employment, which "has received $17 million from taxpayers since its inception in July 2000."

That means it was part of recalled Gov. Gray Davis' spendathon that produced the state budget crisis. Organized labor also was a major contributor to his campaigns.

Furthermore, "the ties between ILE and organized labor are blatant," Pacific Research Institute notes. "Tom Rankin, president of the AFL-CIO California Labor Federation (CLF), is a member of the ILE Governing Council. CLF executive secretary-treasurer Art Pulaski is a member of the ILE Advisory Board. CLF legislative director Angie Wei is a member of the ILE Research Advisory Board, which makes grant and fellowship decisions."

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney attacked the proposed cut as a "conservative attack to cut labor studies programs." But if the institute is so important, let organized labor pay for it. Pacific Research notes that, in California alone, union dues total about $880 million a year.

Gov. Schwarzenegger should continue with his plan to zero-out funding to this institute that critics rightly call "Union U."