In Denmark, citizen involvement is a long-standing political project to strengthen democracy and reduce bureaucracy. Furthermore, the Danish collective bargaining system have institutionalised employee involvement at the workplace. In this article, I investigate the relationship between trade unions and service user organizations in the school sector (i.e. the Danish Folkeskole, encompassing primary and lower secondary education). School reform from 2013 introducing new ways of working, new working time practices and evaluation of the quality of teaching could all potentially challenge the relation between users and employees. However, drawing on document material and qualitative interviews with relevant social partners within the sector, I argue that the systems cohabit rather than compete. This is due to a combination of weaker user organisation relative to trade unions and the continued mutual understanding among politicians, public administrators, trade unions and teachers of the important role that schools play in producing and enhancing democracy through the involvement of citizens directly in and through the school system.