Mission
The provisionary Working Group Economic and Industrial Democracy explores the rich yet neglected history of democratic participation in economic and industrial decision-making. With the emergence of new international research collaborations (see for instance the French-German EURO-DEM), this subject is undergoing a significant resurgence. Our working group seeks to contribute to this revival by providing a space for exchange of ideas and insights into the history of participation at work. As evident from the title of the working group, our scope of participation encompasses both democratic representation and direct engagement by workers and employees across all levels of decision-making, spanning from the workshop floor to the management board, and from work councils to trade unions. The working group is not confined to specific time periods or regions. Nevertheless, our intention is to incorporate non-Western approaches to economic and industrial democracy. By enhancing our comprehension of economic and industrial democracy in the past, we aspire to make a contribution to ongoing endeavors and discussions aimed at fortifying democratic participation in contemporary industrial relations.
Activities
The Working Group Economic and Industrial Democracy will kick off with a panel at the upcoming ELHN 2024 Conference in Uppsala. Please find the CfP here. We will set aside time in Uppsala to discuss future topics and activities, including joint publications.
Contact
Coordinators of the Working Group:
- Sophia Friedel, Institute for Social Movements, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Sophia.Friedel@rub.de)
- Aurélie Andry, Université d'Évry Paris-Saclay (aurelie.andry@eui.eu)
Follow-up of the ELHN Conference in Barcelona 2026:
- Philipp Reick, Aarhus University (philipp.reick@aias.au.dk)
- Sara Lafuente Hernandez, European Trade Union Institute (slafuentehernandez@etui.org)
- Julio Perez Serrano, University of Cadiz (julio.perez@uca.es)
- Ilkka Kärrylä, University of Helsinki (ilkka.karryla@helsinki.fi)
[last updated 17 February 2025]