Labour Research Department
The Labour Research Department is an independent trade union based research organisation, based in London, that provides information to support trade union activity and campaigns. About 2,000 trade union organisations, including 51 national unions in the UK, representing more than 99% of total Trades Union Congress membership, are affiliated.
The Labour Research Department began life in 1912 as the Committee of Enquiry into the Control of Industry.
Within a year, the Committee of Enquiry became the Fabian Research Department, led by figures including Sidney and Beatrice Webb, George Bernard Shaw and Robin Page Arnot. In 1918 it changed its name to the Labour Research Department.
The organisation's original purpose was to provide competing theories of industrial organisation, but the researchers found themselves inundated with requests for information from trade unions.
The unions wanted factual information for their campaigns, to protect their members and to use in negotiations and public meetings. Over a century later, the LRD continues to provide unions with the information they need to help them support their members.
Historical documents from the Labour Research Department are held in the at .
Its first monthly bulletin Labour Research was established in 1917, as the Monthly Circular.
Publications
LRD publishes extensively on employment law, including the annual guide Law at Work. LRD publishes LRD booklets, Labour Research, Workplace Report, Fact Service and Safety Rep.Full information on LRD's publications is available on their website
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Payline database
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Research
Published research includes