The General Labour Federation of Belgium (french: Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique, or FGTB; nl, Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, ABVV) is a socialist national

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

federation in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. It was founded in 1945. It is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation and has a membership of 1.5 million. With said membership the ABVV/FGTB is the second largest of the three major trade unions in Belgium, closely following the

Confederation of Christian Trade Unions The Confederation of Christian Trade Unions ( nl, Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond, or ACV; french: Confédération des syndicats chrétiens, CSC) is the largest of Belgium's three trade union federations. History The federation was founded in ...

(ACV/CSC) which has 1.6 million members and dwarfing the General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (ACLVB/CGSLB) which has approximately 300,000 members. During the bulk of its history the ABVV/FGTB remained closely affiliated with the

Belgian Socialist Party nl, Belgische Socialistische Partij , logo = Logo of the Belgian Socialist Party.png , caption = The fist and rose emblem used by the party from 1973. , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = Achille Van Acker (first)André Cools (last) ...

which was split in 1978 into a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

and a Walloon

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

party. While remaining formally independent from any political party, the ABVV/FGTB noticed the increasing influence by the

marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

Workers' Party of Belgium amongst its active base during the last decade.

History

The first noteworthy historic date when talking about the history of the ABVV/FGTB is the founding of the Belgian Labour Party (BLP) in 1885. While several socialist organisations already existed beforehand this was the first time that the Belgian socialist movement was largely unified and laid the groundwork for the foundation of the ABVV/FGTB. In 1898 the Syndical Commission was erected within the framework of the BLP and in 1937 this Commission formally became independent from the socialist party, as the

Belgian Trade Union Federation The General Labour Confederation of Belgium ( nl, Belgisch Vakverbond, BVV; french: Confédération Générale du Travail de Belgique, CGTB) was a socialist national trade union federation in Belgium active between 1937 and 1944 when it was superse ...

. Nonetheless strong ties between the socialist union and the socialist party were maintained until today. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in 1945 this independent socialist union became the ABVV/FGTB we know today.

Membership and Affiliates

In 2017 the ABVV/FGTB had a total of 1,517,968 members divided across its 7 affiliates. Thus Belgium's second largest labour union noticed a modest decline in membership of 17,340 compared to 2016. On the regional level 726,410 of the aforementioned membership comes from

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

, 600,945 from

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...

and 190,613 from

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Former affiliates

Walloon movement

Through the foundation of the ''Mouvement populaire wallon'' during the Great Strike that took place in the Winter 1960-1961, the Walloon working class now also demanded federalism as well as structural reforms. The leader of the Strike,

André Renard André Renard (25 May 191120 July 1962) was a Belgian trade union leader who, in the aftermath of World War II, became an influential figure within the Walloon Movement. Born into a working-class family, Renard was as a metalworker in the L ...

was also a national leader of the General Labour Federation of Belgium.Chantal Kesteloot, ''Growth of the Walloon Movement'', in Nationalism in Belgium, MacMillan, London, 1998, pp. 139-152, p. 150. This whole process will be named

Renardism Renardism (french: Renardisme) refers to a political ideology in Belgium based on the thinking of the trade union leader André Renard (1911–62) which is generally considered to have emerged as a concept only in the years after his death. Alth ...

. File:2010 Bruxelles CGSP 2819.jpg, Protest against economic austerity in Brussels (29 September 2010)

Leadership

General Secretaries

:1945: Joseph Bondas :1947: Paul Finet :1952: Louis Major :1968:

Georges Debunne Georges Debunne (2 May 1918 – 21 September 2008) was a Belgian trade union leader. Born in Menen, Debunne qualified as a teacher, and worked in Halle, joining the trade union. After World War II, he was elected as full-time secretary of ...

:1982: Alfred Delourme :1987: Jean Gayetot :1989: Mia De Vits :2002: André Mordant :2004: Xavier Verboven :2006: Anne Demelenne :2014: Marc Goblet :2017: Robert Vertenueil :2018: Miranda Ulens

Presidents

:1956:

Roger Dekeyzer Roger Dekeyzer (18 June 1906 – 16 December 1992) was a Belgian trade union leader. Born in Ostend, Dekeyzer became an English teacher, and the unpaid secretary of the Socialist Union of Education Workers of West Flanders. In 1925, he join ...

:1957: Willy Schugens :1958: Alfons Baeyens :1959: Hervé Brouhon :1960: Emiel Janssens :1961: Joseph Dedoyard :1963: Victor Thijs :1964: Oscar Leclercq :1965: Desiré Van Daele :1966: Louis Plumier :1967: Gust Wallaert :1968: :1982: André Vanden Broucke :1989: François Janssens :1995: Michel Nollet :2002: Mia De Vits :2004: André Mordant :2006: Rudy De Leeuw :2018: Robert Vertenueil :2020: Thierry Bodson

References

Sources

External links

* Trade unions in Belgium Walloon movement International Trade Union Confederation European Trade Union Confederation Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD 1945 establishments in Belgium National federations of trade unions Socialism in Belgium Trade unions established in 1945 {{Belgium-stub