TUED South Inter-Regional Meeting II in Mexico City
September 30, 2024
|        BULLETIN #
152

TUED South Inter-Regional Meeting II: A South-South Trade Union Conference on Energy Transition


Exploring Strategies to Reclaim and Restore
Public Ownership & Democratic Control of Energy
Mexico City, Mexico  | February 4th-6th, 2025


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A South-South Trade Union Conference

Trade union leaders and allies from 25 countries will gather in Mexico City between February 4th - 6th, 2025 for the second TUED South Inter-Regional Meeting.

Unions from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean will be present, as will trade union allies from the Global North. The participants are committed to a just energy transition anchored in public ownership and control. Known as the "public pathway" this approach aims to halt and reverse the neoliberal appropriation of energy systems and put in place an alternative that can meet energy needs and climate goals within a framework of energy self-determination and sovereignty.

Confirmed Participants

Trade unions from 24 countries have already registered: Argentina, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Senegal, South Africa, Peru, Philippines, Togo, Trinidad & Tobago, and Uruguay. Allies from the Netherlands, and the United States will also participate.

Why TUED South?

The launch of the TUED South platform in Nairobi in October 2022 signalled a growing commitment among Global South trade unions to fight for an energy transition guided by planning, cooperation and a public goods framework  Three regional policy meetings followed the Nairobi launch, involving 119 unions from 56 countries, detailed below:


The second Inter-Regional TUED South meeting in Mexico City is committed to:

  • Resisting the “privatise to decarbonise” agenda of Global North governments, the IMF and the World Bank, and the so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships
  • Further developing a “Public Pathway” Approach to Energy Transition
  • Proposing a Financial Architecture that avoids debt and advances global justice
  • Advocating for an Industrial Policy grounded in Energy Sovereignty
  • Imagining “A New International Energy Order.”


Discussions will cover:  

  • Legal strategies to reclaim power systems
  • Strategies to Reclaim & Restore public utilities in Africa
  • Public Pathway struggles in Indonesia
  • Energy transition in Colombia
  • Union perspectives on “green industrial policy”
  • Imagining “managed decline” of coal in South Asia
  • “Rebundling” Public Power in Korea
  • Green protectionism and the crisis of neoliberal climate policy in Europe and the United States
  • Learning from Mexico’s fight for energy sovereignty
  • Facing the challenge of “Just Energy Transition Partnerships” (JETPs)
  • Public financing options and multilateral reform
  • Towards COP30



Hosted and endorsed by:

  • Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME)
  • National Union of Oil Technicians and Professionals of Mexico (UNTyPP)
  • New Workers’ Centre (NCT)
  • Centre for Labor Research and Advocacy (CILAS)
  • Public Services International (PSI)
  • Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (CSA-TUCA)
  • Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Mexico (RLS Mexico)


Donate and Get Involved


The Mexico City meeting is open to unions in and beyond the TUED network. If your union is interested in being represented, please contact Mana Bugallo at manatued@gmail.com.

The strength of the inter-regional meeting will depend on our ability to ensure robust representation and inclusivity across sectors, geographies, and trade unions. To sponsor trade union leaders’  participation in the meeting, donate here and share our video solidarity appeal with your networks. 100% of contributions will go to cover airfares and accommodation in Mexico City.



Important Materials


The meeting will seek to build on the analysis advanced by the following TUED working papers:


The meeting will bring together key players from the region to:

  1. Exchange analysis, strategies and campaign updates from the three Global South regions; build on the work of previous regional policy meetings.
  2. Develop cross-regional analysis by trade unions and related researchers on the lessons of the four general periods from the 1960s to 2020 on regional development and energy policies.
  3. Analyse the current moment and identify challenges and opportunities for advancing the Public Road in Mexico and across the Global South.
  4. To report on the latest developments of the regional research collective on the Public Road in Latin America, recently created to foster the regular exchange of research results and develop complementary analyses.
  5. Present national case studies of campaigns to "Reclaim and Restore" electricity utilities, advocating for the restoration of public control over energy systems to address both energy poverty and climate change.


The meeting aims to advance trade union thinking and articulate programmatic commitments on:

  1. Energy policies: the impact of neoliberal reforms
  2. Industrial policy and its financing
  3. Democratic governance of public enterprises
  4. "Transition minerals" and industrial policy (including but not limited to lithium)
  5. Regional insertion in global commodity trade, energy income dependence and plausible alternatives
  6. What constitutes sustainable resource use, and can we avoid the conflicts and tensions of the past?



How to Join TUED


Founded in 2012, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) is a growing global network of 130+ unions and close allies in 40 countries working to advance democratic control and public ownership of energy in ways that promote solutions to the climate crisis, address energy poverty, promote energy sovereignty, resist the degradation of both land and people and respond to attacks on workers' rights and protections.

To have your union join and participate in TUED, please fill out the form, available in various languages:


In solidarity,

TUED Team

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