Towards a progressive agenda to democratise firms: Revisiting worker representation in company boards

Event co-organised by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), Economic Democracy Platform (PxDE) and CEHI University of Barcelona.

After the Covid-19 pandemic and the Spanish presidency of the EU, the importance of democratizing firms has returned to the political agenda in Spain. Worker representation on company boards or supervisory boards, as one of its best known dimensions in Europe, is still not legislated in Spain. Despite existing experiences in this regard, they are largely unknown and underutilized. This issue was also debated in the Parliament of Catalonia after the 2008 financial crisis, driven by the major trade unions.

This conference seeks to improve the understanding of codetermination and its social significance to make of this institution an active and normalized part of labour relations in Spain. Understanding the historical and current debates, institutions, perceptions over codetermination, and its practices, as well as its difficulties of success in the peripheral economies of the EU, is key to assessing the prospects for developing worker participation on company boards as a dimension of a broader progressive agenda to democratize the economy.

The conference will begin with a panel presenting an ETUI collective and comparative book, ‘Revisiting worker representation on boards: the forgotten EU countries in codetermination studies’, which analyses the representation of workers on company boards in ten European countries little explored in codetermination studies, including Spain. Then, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) will provide its vision on a European agenda for democracy at work after the European elections of June 2024. A second panel will follow, involving social partners and political representatives at the Spanish State and Catalonia level. It will discuss their positions and perspectives on concrete ways to develop and deepen worker participation in company boards and the democratization of firms from political and legislative action. In the afternoon, concrete experiences of worker participation in company boards will be presented in a third panel, including perspectives from trade unionists and company managers. Finally, the day will close with a panel of academic papers to promote research and dialogue on board-level worker participation and the democratisation of firms in Spain.

Places at the event are limited to a maximum of 90 participants on site. Participation online will also be possible. If you are interested and you did not register yet, please contact Angélique
Vanhoutte: avanhoutte@etui.org or register for online participation here.

Find the agenda in English here and in Spanish here.

The event will be held in English and Spanish and will have interpretation in these languages.

Website of the event: https://www.etui.org/events/towards-progressive-agenda-democratise-firms