LRAN has garnered interest across the organizing and academic communities since our founding event, a symposium at Georgetown University in June 2011.

What LRAN does:

• Connects experts to practitioners: LRAN connects practitioners employing innovative strategies with scholars from a variety of disciplines who are interested in strategic research and advocacy efforts that support workers. We are building a community of scholars interested in providing research, op-eds, legislative testimony or other forms of support.
• Convenes a national conference: At our conferences, a diverse community of scholars, leaders and staff of unions, worker centers and allied organizations share lessons from historic and current campaigns, exchange big ideas, teach about innovative strategies and share best practices.
• Supports new scholars in the field: LRAN holds an annual New Scholars Research Grant competition to fund vital labor research by non-tenured faculty and graduate students. Winners are provided with an opportunity to present their research at our national conference.

We ask you to join us by submitting our membership request form. There is no membership fee to join, though donations are strongly encouraged. There is a $25 annual registration fee in order to access the LRAN listserve and database. For those who make a minimum $25 tax-deductible donation to LRAN on our online membership donation page, website registration is free.

The Labor Research Action Network (LRAN) has a three-part mission:

1. To cultivate a more dynamic and organic relationship between labor academics engaged in cutting edge research and labor activists engaged in cutting edge organizing;
2. To provide a space for the generation and exchange of new ideas and fresh thinking among labor leaders, activists, scholars and students; and,
3. To help develop the next generation of labor academics and scholars committed to studying and building a progressive workers’ movement.