The looming energy crisis shows that state-owned enterprises are indispensable instruments for tackling energy poverty, advancing just transition, and reducing inequality – and OECD governance frameworks must reflect this, TUAC argued at the OECD Working Party on State Owned Enterprises and Privatisation Practices on 1 April.
SOEs employ 33 million people worldwide, hold approximately USD 37 trillion in assets, and generate USD 18 trillion in annual revenue. TUAC welcomes the Working Party’s recognition of this economic weight and its acknowledgment that geopolitical shifts strengthen the case for using SOEs to advance public policy objectives. But trade unions identify a growing tension between the Working Party’s focus on preventing competitive distortions and a geopolitical reality that increasingly underlines the strategic role of SOEs in ensuring economic security and social cohesion.
Concrete action must follow this recognition. Trade unions advocate embedding just transition – aligned with the ILO Guidelines of 2015 and the Paris Agreement – into state ownership policies, and welcome the Working Party’s focus on sustainability disclosure, stressing that SOEs must lead by example. TUAC also emphasises the role of social conditionality in ensuring industrial policies contribute to decent work and sustainable development.
Workers’ participation in SOE governance is central to TUAC’s vision. Trade unions strongly support the Working Party’s proposal to develop best practice guidance on board practices, arguing that worker directors bring irreplaceable operational expertise and a long-term perspective beyond short-term financial logic. Fabrice Guyon, member of FNME-CGT and worker board member at EDF, underlined what this means in practice in the energy sector: public stewardship and worker representation are essential to guaranteeing affordable, secure, and low-carbon energy for all.
Trade unions will continue to engage with the Working Party to ensure SOE governance frameworks match the strategic ambition that energy security, climate action, and rising inequality demand.
