Workers’ Assemblies are a way of engaging aviation workers, and any other sector for that matter, in important and complex topics such as decarbonisation and the climate crisis. Conversations around sustainability are often centred around short-term political, economic and commercial interests rather than being community, worker and evidence-led. Workers’ Assemblies, like Citizens’ Assemblies, select at random a cross-section of the workforce to hear evidence on a topic, deliberate and produce recommendations for policy and decision-makers.
It’s important to say at this point that Workers’ Assemblies do not seek to completely replace existing democratic structures at governmental level, in unions or companies. They simply aim to engage, inform and empower workers to have a voice and a say over the defining industrial issues of our time.
The Workers’ Assembly concept was exactly what landed us an invite to speak at the Marx Is Muss (Marx is a must) congress in Berlin earlier in May 2026. George, our Workers’ Participation Lead, travelled by train to Berlin and spoke on a panel titled “The Climate Labor Turn”. He spoke alongside a speaker from the water justice campaign Guter Grund and Nora Räthzel, a leading labor environmentalism scholar. George outlined Safe Landing’s work around Workers’ Assemblies, trade unions and aviation policy creation.
As a result of the panel talk we found out that Safe Landing’s workers’ assembly project has been cited in Nora Räthzel’s research as a shining example of how to engage workers in critical conversations around the climate crisis and decarbonisation. George was also introduced to aviation trade unionists from Lufthanza and shared experiences of their respective work around workers’ rights and climate. Overall, it was fascinating to connect with workers’ struggles in Germany and what can be learned from them.