In addition to passing a trio of controversial bills designed to help unions circumvent U.S. Supreme Court rulings against the forced unionization of public employees, the Legislature also quietly doubled the funding of the union supported Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) at South Seattle College.

LERC was receiving $168,000 of taxpayer dollars every year.  Under the new budget, LERC will bank an additional $338,000 in fiscal year 2019.  This increases LERC’s total budget to $506,000 annually.  That’s a funding increase of more than 200 percent.

LERC describes itself as providing “trainings and classes for and about working people.”  According to LERC’s website, the Center’s curriculum “builds the skills, confidence, and knowledge needed for working people to become leaders in efforts to improve their work lives and communities and to promote a just economy through collective action.”

The reality is that LERC is simply a taxpayer-funded extension of the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC).  According to public records obtained by the Freedom Foundation, LERC not only receives funding from WSLC, it also tailors its curriculum according to WSLC’s agenda.  

Those documents reveal WSLC officials described LERC as “a key part of the WSLC’s agenda and forthcoming strategic plans” to “build political power.”  In one email, a former director of LERC stated that, “It makes sense for the Labor Center to take on strategic research projects for the WSLC” and referenced WSLC’s “research priorities.”

One of those projects has been a series of workshops around the state aimed at training union members how to fight efforts to adopt a right-to-work law in Washington.  The curriculum for the workshops was developed by LERC at the request of WSLC.

One recent workshop included a star-studded panel with impressive leftist resumes—a leading U.S. Marxist, a member of the International Socialist Organization, an activist with ties to the Communist Party, and a member of the Community Workers Party.  After that panel, workshop participants attended sessions on “Fighting against Right-Wing Populism and Winning,” “Telling Stories that Fight RTW and Build Union Power,” and “Winning Issues Campaigns in the Workplace.”

LERC is clearly engaged in political advocacy on behalf of labor unions, in the guise of a higher education training center.

As former Attorney General Rob McKenna notes:

“If LERC were entirely funded by unions, its political activities and advocacy for and against legislation would be legally appropriate. However, as a recipient of taxpayer funds, its activities are inappropriate.”

It should go without saying that taxpayer dollars should never be used to help any group promote a strategy to “build political power.”