#DW #19 NEWSLETTER

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2026

Going International, from Westminster to Paris,

Workers Should Govern AI

Dear signatories of the #DemocratizingWork Manifesto,

The future of democracy is now at work! Workers are mobilising internationally to get the right to shape AI. In October, at the EU level, debates on how to expand democracy at work have been intense, and in November, the debate is reaching two international capitals in two days. These are critical times, and our impact couldn’t be bigger!

On November 20, the Palace of Westminster will host a historic gathering on AI: Worker Voice as Critical Internal Condition, convened by the Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI and Harvard Law School's Center for Labor and a Just Economy, and hosted by Baroness Beeban Kidron from the House of Lords. AI lab workers and insiders, trade union leaders, scholars and policymakers will work on one question: how can workers have a real voice, and a veto, over AI, from the code to the boardroom? The next day, November 21, the conversation moves to Paris, where #DW Core Group member Isabelle Ferreras will join the 1st Paris Summit Against International Oligarchy. These two days will be critical opportunities to highlight the need to advance the rights of workers to govern AI, and the firm in which they invest their labour. 

In Europe, the stakes are immediate. The Commission's proposal for a Quality Jobs Act is expected in December. In a new op-ed for The Progressive Post, Isabelle Ferreras argues that democracy at work is the missing engine of Europe's renewal. On October 14 she took that message to the European Parliament. Another powerful news: unions are taking the Report on Democracy at Work to the next stage. Eurocadres, the confederation of unions representing 6 million professionals and managers, voted a resolution to take the conclusions of the Report to the next policy-making level.  

On October 14, in Washington D.C., #DW Core Group member Pavlina R. Tcherneva took the debate to Capitol Hill, asking policymakers whether the AI boom is heading for a financial bust, then briefed members of Congress on the job guarantee. From Washington to Brussels, London, Rome, and Paris, the call for democracy at work is resonating internationally.

Finally, save the date for our next #DW Global Workshop, and follow us on LinkedIn to keep up with the network between newsletters!

SAVE THE DATE: #DW GLOBAL WORKSHOP SERIES 2026- 2027

The #DW Global Workshop Series is back! We’re thrilled to announce our new cycle of online workshops, bringing together researchers, policymakers, trade unionists, business leaders and civil society actors to explore how to democratize work, and the economy, in a time of rapid technological and social transformation. Each workshop will offer an open, interactive space for collective learning, exchange and strategic thinking. Automatic translation will be available, so that participants from across our global network can join in their own language. Mark your calendars! 

On December 3, Démocratiser le travail : durabilité, IA et instrument de mesure, co-organised with CRIMT and held in French with automatic translation to English and Spanish, will discuss new tools to measure democratic development at work, the use of AI to democratize large firms, and explore the connection between democracy at work and sustainability, with an opening statement by #DW Core Group member Julie Battilana.

You can register here. 

On February 4, Tooling the transition toward democratizing work at national and international levels will examine the concrete instruments available, from national legislation on worker representation, participation and ownership to EU directives and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, with an opening statement by #DW Core Group member Sara Lafuente Hernández. 

You can register here. 

On May 13, Decommodifying Work: the Job Guarantee in the AI Age, co-organised with the Levy Economics Institute, will debate how a job guarantee can serve as a democratic anchor in an AI-driven economy, including the work of #DW Core Group member Pavlina R. Tcherneva. Live automatic translation into French and Spanish will be provided, and all sessions will be recorded. 

You can register here. 

MEDIA AND PRESS COVERAGE

October 8. The Progressive Post (FEPS). Isabelle Ferreras. The missing engine of Europe's renewal

In this op-ed for the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, #DW Core Group member Isabelle Ferreras builds on the Report on Democracy at Work commissioned by the Spanish Government. She argues that today's crises, from climate breakdown to the disruptive rise of AI and the erosion of trust in institutions, share a common root: an extractive corporate model that treats workers as disposable resources rather than citizens. She sets out the Report's two-pillar plan: a three-tier architecture of worker voice, from the workplace to the works council to the board, and a path to shared ownership through statutory equity and citizen wealth funds. With the Quality Jobs Act in preparation, she recalls that the EU AI Act does not regulate power relations at work, and thus calls for binding rules giving workers a veto right over AI development and deployment, along with an EU-wide right to disconnect. Read the full op-ed here.

October 20. Jacobin Italia. Toni Comín. Il coraggio di pensare il postcapitalismo

In this essay for Jacobin Italia, Toni Comín, praises three thinkers for having “the courage to think about how to overcome capitalism”: Lea Ypi, Thomas Piketty and #DW Core Group member Isabelle Ferreras. Comín reads Ypi’s “moral socialism”, Ferreras’s economic bicameralism and Piketty’s “participatory socialism” as converging proposals. Read the full article (in Italian) here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

November 20. London, Westminster. AI: Worker Voice as Critical Internal Condition. From Code to Boardroom

Mainstream Artificial Intelligence safety treats “alignment” primarily as an engineering puzzle. In practice, making AI accountable to human values and priorities (i.e. alignment) is also an institutional challenge: frontier systems mirror the priorities of the concentrated capital that finances and directs them. While one week after the other, workers from frontier AI labs resign, we cannot afford to accept exit as the default and need worker voice! We cannot accept the continued development of AI without ensuring that those who labour to develop it have a real say, and that their knowledge is empowered to steer both ethical development and safety inside those labs.

Hosted by Baroness Beeban Kidron in the House of Lords, convened by the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford and the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School, this parliamentary day brings together an extraordinary combination of policymakers, frontier AI tech workers, organized labour leaders, and scholars to discuss actionable policy pathways. #DW Core Group member Isabelle Ferreras will frame the discussion with Jeremias Adams-Prassl. This is an invitation-only conference operating under Chatham House Rule. Note that places are extremely limited: you can request an invitation here until November 6. Please choose “#DemocratizingWork” to recommend yourself. If you need funding to attend the event, you might request support through the open questions of the registration form here.

November 21. Paris. Théâtre de La Concorde. 1st Paris Summit Against International Oligarchy

Initiated by the International Tax Observatory, led by Gabriel Zucman, the first Paris Summit Against International Oligarchy brings together Nobel laureates in economics, Esther Duflo, Joe Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, researchers like Isabella Weber, philanthropists like Abigail Disney, Marlene Engelhorn wealth tax advocates, union leaders like Sophie Binet (CGT) and Paul Nowak (TUC) and activists from around the world at the Théâtre de la Concorde to launch the Paris Manifesto. Isabelle Ferreras will participate in the panel on "AI: Toward Universal Ownership of Knowledge". The debate will address who owns the knowledge that AI draws on? How should the value it generates be shared? What’s workers standing in those decisions? How can we prevent this technological revolution from concentrating power even further? The debate will be held in English, with interpretation into French. Join the livestream from where you are! All information is available here.

PAST EVENTS

October 6. Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown State University. Paul J. Thomas Public Lecture in Economics

#DW Core Group member Pavlina R. Tcherneva spoke on capitalism at Youngstown State University. Titled “Capitalism’s New Chapter: What This Generation Inherits and What It Can Change”, Pavlina R. Tcherneva explored how capitalism has created enormous wealth but also instability, inequality and insecurity. The presentation asked what capitalism promised, what it delivered, where it broke down and what this generation may want to pass on. Information is available here.

October 14. Brussels. European Parliament, S&D Group. Quality Jobs for All

Isabelle Ferreras delivered a keynote at this conference organised by the Socialists and Democrats Group at the European Parliament, gathering progressive voices behind an ambitious Quality Jobs Act. The debate covered the right to disconnect, fair telework rules, algorithmic management and AI in the workplace, mental health at work, and exploitative subcontracting chains. The Commission's proposal is expected in December 2026.

You can watch the recording here in 4 languages (EN - FR - ES - DE)

October 14. Washington, D.C. Capitol Visitor Center. The AI Bubble: From Boom to Financial Bust

As part of the Levy Economics Institute's Capitol Hill Series, co-organised with Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, #DW Core Group member Pavlina R. Tcherneva (President, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College) spoke to policymakers on whether the extraordinary run-up in AI-related valuations is sustainable, or the latest chapter in a familiar boom-and-bust pattern. In examining the financial plumbing behind the AI buildout, the forum aims to identify and illuminate potential sources of financial fragility, and what to do about them. The event opened with remarks by Rep. Greg Casar, Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Event details here.

October 16. Stockholm. Stockholm School of Economics. HoSS Forum 2026: Sustainable Agenda-Setting in Uncertain Times

#DW Core Group member Julie Battilana (Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School) delivered the keynote at the annual forum of the House of Sustainable Society, which brought together scholars, business leaders and policymakers to discuss how governments, firms, investors and civil society can mobilise collective action and build new alliances amid geopolitical tensions, climate risks and economic uncertainty. See the programme here.

October 20, 2026. Luxembourg Climate Policy Observatory (OPC). Competitiveness within a Safe and Just Operating Space

Participants from government, academia, economic institutions, municipalities, civil society and international organisations gathered at Neimënster Abbey in Luxembourg for a symposium on reconciling economic competitiveness with planetary boundaries and societal wellbeing. Two members of the #DW Core Group were among the speakers. Isabelle Ferreras argued that to ensure the transition to a sustainable economy we need to strengthen democratic governance within firms, an essential adjustment to align economic activity with broader social and environmental goals. Dominique Méda called for measuring progress through quality of work, social justice and collective wellbeing. Together, their contributions reflected the three principles at the heart of the Democratizing Work agenda: democratize, decommodify, and decarbonize. The symposium was organised by the OPC, the independent scientific body supporting evidence-based climate policymaking in Luxembourg.

October 2026. Rome. Eurocadres General Assembly, CGIL. Towards Strengthened Democracy at Work

Eurocadres, the confederation of unions representing 6 million managerial and professional staff across the European Union, unanimously adopted its policy paper Towards Strengthened Democracy at Work at its General Assembly in Rome. Speaking to the delegates at the CGIL headquarters, #DW Core Group Member Isabelle Ferreras presented the Report’s key findings: the absence of workers’ voice and ownership in the structure of the firm lies at the centre of today’s crises, from inequality and climate collapse to the crisis of AI and of democracy. The paper takes forward the Report on Democracy at Work, commissioned by the Spanish government. Eurocadres commits to make democracy a trade union priority by promoting the Report’s key findings, to call for the implementation of the seven recommendations set out by the Committee as flagship campaign priorities over this mandate, and to push for additional measures against the opaque implementation of AI in the workplace, including algorithmic management.

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On the Report on Democracy at Work to the Spanish Government

There is too much happening to be included here. For a full overview of related events and press coverage, check the Expert Committee website, which is constantly being updated. Let us know if you would like to organise a discussion around the Report on Democracy at Work in your country! Again, you can access the full Report in Spanish (500 pages) and in English (400 pages), with a 5-page executive summary and a 26-page comprehensive summary, and the Introduction in Spanish, English, and French.

This information-sharing tool is meant to disseminate recent research results, debates, and actual progress with Democratizing, Decommodifying, and Decarbonizing Work within and around our global network. Please share updates from your end. You can share your news about #DemocratizingWork by sending us an email to info@democratizingwork.org.

Onward and upward,

The #DemocratizingWork Core Group,

Julie Battilana, Harvard University, Isabelle Ferreras, FNRS/University of Louvain-Harvard CLJE, Dominique Méda, University of Paris Dauphine PLS, with Alyssa Battistoni, Barnard College, Julia Cagé, Sciences Po-Paris, Neera Chandhoke, University of Delhi, Lisa Herzog, University of Groningen, Imge Kaya-Sabanci, IE Business School, Madrid, Sara Lafuente Hernandez, University of Brussels-ETUI, Hélène Landemore, Yale University, Flavia Maximo, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Bard College-Levy Economics Institute