Workers’ Assembly FAQs

Workers' Assemblies FAQs

What is a Workers’ Assembly?

Workers’ Assemblies are a participatory and democratic mechanism similar to the proven Citizens’ Assembly model. Workers’ Assemblies provide a structured, inclusive space for a workforce to deliberate on key industry questions, such as how aviation can decarbonise while protecting jobs and communities. Participants are selected by sortition to reflect the diversity of the workforce, are presented with balanced evidence from experts and stakeholders, and work collaboratively to form practical, consensus-driven recommendations for decision-makers in government, trade unions or companies.

Why hold Workers’ Assemblies?

While governments, policymakers, and large-scale operators shape the industrial strategy, a crucial dimension is missing: the voices of those who live and work within the system. Despite workers having a deep understanding of their sector, often their agency and engagement in decisions that influence the industry’s direction are minimal. Plans for decarbonisation, expansion and operational change are one‑sided: driven by high-level leadership and institutional interests, rather than participatory processes that harness frontline expertise. Workers’ Assemblies strengthen democratic participation within the sector, ensuring that the people most affected by industrial and environmental decisions can contribute meaningfully to shaping them. The model augments, rather than replaces, existing government and trade union processes — enriching them with grounded, representative insight from within the workforce itself.

What’s the difference between a Workers’ Assembly and a Citizens’ Assembly?

They both have the similar three phases of (1) learning, (2) deliberation and (3) recommendation-making. The process of selection via sortition for a Citizens’ Assembly is chosen from the general population. Whereas, a Workers’ Assembly would select participants from a pool of workers from the aviation sector (or any other industry), a union or workplace, depending on who has commissioned the assembly.

Who organises a Workers' Assembly?

A Workers' Assembly would be commissioned by a decision-maker - a politician, a trade union president, a CEO. They would commit to responding to the outcome of the Workers' Assembly. The assembly itself would be organised by an external organisation, such as Safe Landing, Involve or Mutual Gain, for the assembly to retain legitimacy and the process to be impartially run.

What is sortition?

Sortition is just another word for lottery or random selection. To be in a Workers' Assembly you must be selected by democratic lottery to take part. You cannot buy your way in, nor can you simply turn up. This makes it fair for everyone. Everyone should, ideally, have an equal chance of being selected. The participants would be stratified to make sure that the assembly broadly represents the diversity in gender, age, ethnicity, role and views on the topic seen in the industrial sector or union. This means that even if you are not selected to be a participant there is a high likelihood that someone who looks like you and holds similar viewpoints to you will be selected.

What happens in the learning phase?

A range of speakers would be chosen to provide a variety of perspectives and points of view on the topic discussed. Often, in the scoping of the assembly an Independent Advisory Group would be selected to oversee the legitimacy and integrity of the entire process. This mitigates any blind spots or biases. Participants would listen to the speakers and have a chance to ask questions. They would then move into the deliberation phase.

What happens in the deliberation phase?

Impartial facilitators would host discussions on round tables where participants discuss what they’ve heard in the learning phase. Participants are encouraged to actively listen to each other's perspectives, consider trade-offs and work together collaboratively to find consensus. This phase is designed to highlight divergence and convergences in views. Some participants may change their opinions, some may not. Participants would then produce recommendations to answer the question posed at the start of the assembly and collectively vote on them. This means that every voice is heard.

Where will the outcome of a Workers’ Assembly go? Will it have any impact?

Workers’ Assembly would be commissioned by a decision-making body like a union’s Executive Committee, a government or a council. Before the assembly, they would commit to respond to the recommendations of the assembly. In some cases, they may even make the outcome legally-binding. Either way, there would be a process post-assembly to continually review how the outcomes are being implemented. Citizens’ Assemblies and similar deliberative processes have been used all over the world to address society’s most pressing issues.

What are the benefits of running a Workers’ Assembly?

Workers’ Assemblies provide a structured, inclusive space for the workforce to deliberate on key industry questions, such as how aviation can decarbonise while protecting jobs and communities. Participants are selected by sortition to reflect the diversity of the workforce, are presented with balanced evidence from experts and stakeholders, and work collaboratively to form practical, consensus-driven recommendations. This process strengthens democratic participation within the sector, ensuring that the people most affected by industrial and environmental decisions can contribute meaningfully to shaping them. The model augments, rather than replaces, existing government and trade union processes — enriching them with grounded, representative insight from within the workforce itself.

Why run a Workers’ Assembly for aviation workers?

We see value in applying this process to various industries and topics. However, as a community of aviation workers we see particular value in using it to address the topic of sustainability within aviation. Unlike many other sectors of the global economy, aviation lacks a clear plan for decarbonisation and there is an ongoing debate about what the future of air travel will look like. Industry roadmaps, created by business leaders, are broadly consistent and fail to address critical questions about how technology will scale, how this will be funded, and how air travel may change as a result. As a highly visible international industry, requiring international cooperation to transform, we have the opportunity to demonstrate leadership and pioneer new ways of addressing some of the biggest questions in a democratic manner.

How will you make sure people from marginalised backgrounds and those who have limited time and capacity can attend?

The process of selecting participants via sortition (as above) ensures that the participants accurately reflect the diversity of age, gender, ethnicity, job roles and viewpoints in the aviation industry. To make sure everyone could attend, every participant would be paid to attend in order to cover lost working hours, childcare and travel. Catering and materials would be provided. The venue would, of course, be accessible to all. In some instances where the assembly has a high budget, a creche may be provided for the duration of the assembly.

Why run a Workers' Assembly when we have elected politicians who make decisions for us?

Elected politicians are often not that engaged with grassroots workers. Some may occasionally work with trade unions but it's often only to negotiate during a trade dispute. A Workers' Assembly, when commissioned by a politician, can help inform their opinion on a particular topic. It can give them well-informed representative recommendations that can help guide a government's industrial strategy. Workers' voices are absolutely key in any industrial strategy, particularly in difficult topics like the decarbonisation of high carbon industries. But they can be used to deal with any issue or topic in any industry.

Why do we need a Workers’ Assembly when we already have democratic processes and elected representatives in unions?

Workers’ Assemblies are meant to upgrade, not replace existing democratic structures and processes in unions. To address something as vast and existential as decarbonising aviation we need a democratic process that can address something of that scale. A Workers’ Assembly would give agency to a broad group of workers in a union that represents a diversity of viewpoints and demographics. It helps Executive Councils address the stickier, contentious and complex topics like decarbonisation, demand management and growth. A Workers’ Assembly could have a number of different and complimentary purposes. At the largest scale, it could create a worker-led industrial strategy. On a smaller scale, it could provide union negotiators with the worker-led position on different aviation and climate issues like Sustainable Aviation Fuels, hydrogen technology or contrail avoidance, for example. It could even be used to respond to government industrial strategies like Jet Zero (the current UK aviation Net Zero roadmap). Any complexities regarding integrating the outcome of such an assembly within the existing constitution and structures of the union would be dealt with during the scoping stage.

We already have working groups in unions focusing on the climate crisis, why do we need a Workers’ Assembly in addition?

These existing working groups have done amazing work in unions. Indeed, some of our Safe Landing community are part of them. These groups, however, are special interest groups with self-selected participants. The views held in these groups do not necessarily reflect the wider views of the union membership. Through sortition, participants would be selected so that the diversity of age, gender, ethnicity and viewpoints on climate change would be accurately represented.

What makes a Workers' Assembly better than a focus group or opinion poll?

Participants of focus groups and opinion polls aren’t necessarily selected in a way which is representative of society or the demographic (e.g. aviation workers) being represented. The sortition process of selection for a Workers' Assembly ensures accurate representation. There are topics that require more than a yes/no or sliding scale (1-10) answer. People don’t find it easy to answer a lot of survey questions - often they want to ask explaining questions, get into more depth, discuss nuance with others and give responses involving finding common-ground with other participants. Workers' Assemblies help to inform participants using experts and provide the time and facilitated space to discuss, deliberate and work out their minds. They can capture the attention of the workforce much more than simply announcing the results of a survey.

How much do these Workers’ Assemblies cost?

The cost of a Workers’ Assembly can vary considerably depending on the scope of the assembly - how many participants, how long the assembly would take, venue hire, catering, equipment, participants travel costs, etc. As an example, the “Future of Aviation” workshop we held in Bristol based on the Workers’ Assembly model cost around £34,000. This covered the scoping, the running and producing the outcome of the workshop. For further estimations of costs click here. https://www.involve.org.uk/resources/knowledge-base/how-do-i-setup-citizens-assembly/frequently-asked-questions

Surely the participants will all have similar viewpoints if they’re coming along to an assembly on climate?

The process of sortition ensures that the participants have a diverse range of viewpoints on climate change (or other topic being deliberated on) that is representative of the wider community being represented.

Aviation workers are predominantly men - will the participants be mostly men or will they more accurately represent wider society?

We don’t know the answer to this as a full Workers’ Assembly in aviation has never been done. Our thinking would be that the assembly should reflect the diversity of wider society as that’s the demographic make-up that the industry aspires to. But equally there is logic that if a union is running an assembly to formulate a plan for the union, then maybe it should actually reflect the diversity of the union’s membership. Ultimately, questions like these are addressed in the scoping phase of any assembly, to ensure that the participants are as representative as possible to the intent of the process.

We already have plans for aviation such as the UK’s Jet Zero Strategy. Why do we need a Workers’ Assembly in addition to this?

Groups that responded to the UK Jet Zero consultation were wide ranging but self-selecting and tended towards interest groups and NGOs. A Workers’ Assembly would involve a representative sample of aviation workers that accurately reflects the diversity of demographics and thought within the aviation industry. A Workers’ Assembly would feed into or even create its very own worker-led industrial plan for aviation - this would then be considered by the government, in addition to other evidence, as part of the strategy process.

Could Workers’ Assemblies be run within a company?

Yes, they could! For the same reasons you would run a Workers’ Assembly in a union you could run an assembly in a company. It could guide company sustainability strategy and be incorporated into their governance structures. Companies who run an assembly would truly be leading the way in worker participation, governance innovation and sustainability.

Could a Workers’ Assembly be used to address topics other than climate change?

Yes! The Workers’ Assembly model and concept can be used in any industry. By embedding participatory structures within industrial ecosystems, we aim to create a replicable, sector-led approach to democratic transformation — one that aligns environmental sustainability, economic resilience, and social benefit. Our vision is a future where the workers who power our industries also help guide their evolution — ensuring that the transition to clean aviation and beyond, is technologically achievable, socially just and democratically produced.