David Boys

Founded in 1907, PSI is a global federation of 30 million workers in 160 countries, supporting union activities in health, water, energy, municipal and national public services. David is a specialist on the utilities of water and energy. This includes strategic campaign work with national unions, global and regional advocacy work on finance and governance of utilities as well as worker representation in multinational utility corporations.

David is recognised for his work in the water sector and was a member of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, where he steered to concept of public-public partnerships between (largely) municipal water utilities to enhance skills exchanges. This led Kofi Annan to mandate UN Habitat to create the Global Water Operators Partnership Alliance, of which David is a founding member. He also participated in the advocacy leading to the 2015 UN General Assembly resolution on the human right to water and sanitation. 

David is a recognised authority in the energy sector and was the lone labour delegate assigned to work with the Global Reporting Initiative in the two-year project to develop a set of indicators for electricity utilities. He helps unions develop responses to energy utility restructuring plans, including the transition from fossil to renewable energy sources.