Businesses have become more mobile, more complex, and less accountable. Decisions that shape our lives (such as relocations, layoffs and investments) are increasingly made far from the communities they affect the most, while traditional tools of regulation and trade unions struggle to keep up. If we want to protect democracy and economic sovereignty, we must rethink ownership itself.

Democratic worker ownership offers a radical yet practical and time-tested alternative. It anchors wealth, jobs, and decision-making locally, strengthening democracy at work and beyond and giving people a sense of agency over their lives. It reduces inequality not only through redistribution, but by reshaping how value is created and shared in the first place. And as if this wasn’t enough, it’s even good for business; worker-owned firms consistently prove resilient and competitive.

Today, worker ownership remains marginal virtually everywhere, being held back by institutional bias, financing barriers, and limited awareness. But is that changing? What can we learn from the rise of Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) in the UK? And what legislation is emerging in other countries, particularly in Slovenia, Denmark, and Spain?

These are some of the questions we explored during the panel discussion that took place at Pelican House on 13 March, featuring:

• Aleksandra Kanjuo-Mrčela, President of the Expert Committee on Economic Democracy and Professor of Economic Sociology and Sociology of Work at the University of Ljubljana
  
• Benjamin Braun, Assistant professor in political economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science
  
• Christian Damholt, Political Adviser at the Danish Trade Union Confederation

The discussion was moderated by Kosta Juri, Director of Operations at the Institute for Economic Democracy.

The event was supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung London Office