The LRD has a 19 people experienced staff (13 of whom are researchers) who works in the following areas of labour research:

1) Health and Safety, research projects include for example: Tackling attacks on fire crews in the UK, Temporary workers' health and safety, Occupational Cancer etc; contact person: Paul Hampton

2) Employment Law, research projects include for example the broadly appreciated publication 'Law at Work' which is issued every year, and also the publication 'Case Law at Work'; contact person: Sally Buffard

3) Equality and Internal Union Developments, research projects include for example: Why do teachers choose on teachers' union rather than another?; contact person: Clare Ruhemann

4) Pay and Conditions (Collective bargaining), research projects include for example the on-line service 'Payline' (a very user-friendly and detailed collective agreements database); contact person: Lewis Emery

5) European Policies and Comparisons; contact person: Lionel Fulton

Other areas of expertise are as well: Environmental concerns, Employee representation, Corporate governance, Pensions, Training, Director's pay and IT support.

The researchers at LRD have close contacts with local union negotiators which is an important source of information. LRD undertakes research for trade unions and other organisations. Some examples of such commissioned research are: provision of support for negotiations, analysing the membership of trade unions, looking at the profit margins of PFI companies, examining the impact of childcare costs on earnings, studying how unions have tackled institutional racism in the workplace, monitoring developments in pay and conditions of service eg performance pay, uncovering the pay and perks of fat cat directors, highlighting health and safety issues etc. In some cases this research is published by the unions while in other cases it is only used for internal purposes. LRD participates as well in European projects in the following areas: EWCs, migrant workers, CSR, companies covered by EWC directive, equal opportunities, pay benchmarking, health and safety, collective bargaining, European companies, corporate governance, employee representation, IT support, industry analysis.

The project 'Payline' gives union members and officials access to information on more than 2,000 collective agreements with large and small employers in both the public and the private sectors. In addition to information about pay settlements and pay rates, Payline has information about working hours, holidays and special leave, overtime rates, shift pay, regional allowances, maternity, paternity and other family friendly policies (flexible working, career breaks), union facilities and a range of other subjects that are useful to union negotiators on a daily basis. The Labour Research Department uses this information as the basis for the analysis of current pay and conditions which makes its publications so widely read within the union movement. Payline gives union researchers, members and officials the opportunity to find what they need to know with a wide range of reports and filtering options. A similar project called 'Law on line' is being currently worked on.

Other projects include: LRD provides comparative tables detailing employee rights to representation at workplace level in EU, LRD again undertakes Equality Audit for the TUC, European Trade Union Institute uses LRD as a source for its web pages, LRD translates articles from the Hans Boeckler Foundation's information service into English, GMB commissions LRD to compile Polish workers’ rights at work leaflets.

Some examples of future projects are: Employee representation in Europe (in cooperation with Labour Associados), EWC and European bargaining, European Companies in UK (in cooperation with SEEurope), a survey of teachers' views on pay, convergence costs, the TUC Equality Audit, collective Bargaining in local and regional government (in cooperation with EPSU), collective bargaining including working time and young workers, fatalities and accidents in the fire services, the impact of restructuring on health, racial discrimination in private sector, women in unions, changes in youth services, union membership services etc

Labour Research is the UK monthly magazine that provides updated information on what's happening in the unions - from how they are faring under New Labour to how they are going for growth through recruitment campaigns and mergers. The magazine also provides regular updates on workers' legal rights and changes in employment law, as well as the essential information union reps need to monitor, and take effective action on, health and safety at work. And last but not least, it gives the latest information on equality matters and European Union developments. For more information, please contact the editor Ms Nathalie Towner.

Workplace Report focuses on the more practical information relevant to trade unionists. It provides union reps and negotiators with the useful information they need in a comprehensive but easy-to-read monthly package. Each issue contains official statistics on earnings and prices plus pay figures from LRD's Payline database; a round-up of recent negotiated settlements; and the latest news relating to health and safety, recruitment and organising, union learning, equality issues and European pay deals. A pull-out employment case law section reports on all the significant rulings on a range of topics from the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the courts, and there are two in-depth features every month on topical workplace issues - with many drawing on surveys of LRD's 1.000-plus workplace contacts to provide a unique insight into workplace experiences and best practice. Once a year, a supplement based on Payline, is added to the magazine. For more information, please contact the editor Mr. Jeremy Pinel.

The popular LRD Booklets provide invaluable information on a range of trade union and labour movement concerns. An average of 10 or 11 booklets are produced each year. There are guides to issues that are permanently on the trade union agenda - such as health and safety, state benefits and sick pay - as well as rapid analysis of new developments affecting trade unionists - such as new employment laws and codes. The most popular of those booklets is the one on 'Law at Work' which is issued every year in an updated version. In 2007 20.000 copies have been distributed.

Safety Rep includes the latest health and safety and environmental news drawn from LRD's popular publications together with new material, unique to Safety Rep. The bulletin is aimed at safety reps who may not currently see LRD's other publications and will in an invaluable tool for keeping reps up-to-date.

The newsletter of the LRD called 'Fact Service' is published weekly and provides a concise update on the latest developments. This information might be very useful for negotiations, speeches or publicity material. For easy access to accurate and up-to-date information, Fact Service is an unrivalled resource. It gives full details of the latest official statistics on prices, earnings and unemployment, as they appear, as well as coverage of key economic and industrial issues as they happen.

Mitbestimmung is the magazine of the research and educational arm of the DGB German union confederation (Hans Böckler Stiftung) that looks at developments in Europe and Germany. Every year LRD works with the magazine's editorial staff to produce an English edition.

Occasionally LRD produces one-off publications such as a Polish-language employment rights guide, Prawo w pracy - twoje uprawnienia (Law at work - know your rights).

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