The General Labour Federation of Belgium (, , FGTB; , , ABVV) is a socialist national

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

federation in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It was founded in 1945. It is affiliated with the

International Trade Union Confederation The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC; ; ; ) is the world's largest trade union federation. History The federation was formed on 1 November 2006 out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) a ...

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 (, or ACV; , CSC) is the largest of Belgium's three trade union federations. History The federation was founded in 1904, but can trace its origins to the "Anti-Socialist Cotton Workers' Union" founde ...

(ACV/CSC) which has 1.6 million members and dwarfing the

General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium The General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (ACLVB or CGSLB) is the smallest of Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low ...

(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 The Belgian Socialist Party (, , PSB; , , BSP) was a social-democratic political party which existed in Belgium from 1945 to 1978. During its time in office, a number of progressive social reforms were introduced. The BSP was founded by activists ...

which was split in 1978 into a

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

and a Walloon

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

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

marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

Workers' Party of Belgium The Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA) is a Marxist and socialist political party in Belgium. It is the only Belgian party represented in parliament that is a fully national party, representing both Flanders and Wallonia. Having historically be ...

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 The Belgian Labour Party (, , BWP; , , POB) was the first major Socialism, socialist party in Belgium. Founded in 1885, the party achieved its first electoral breakthrough in the aftermath of World War I. It was officially disbanded after the Ger ...

(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. 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-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 culture, la ...

, 600,945 from

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

and 190,613 from

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

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

Leadership

General Secretaries

:1945: Joseph Bondas :1947:

Paul Finet Paul Finet (4 November 1897 – 18 May 1965) was a Belgian politician and former General Secretary of FGTB. He served in the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community from 1952 on, chairing it in 1958. From 1958 to 1959, he the ...

:1952: Louis Major :1968: Georges Debunne :1982: Alfred Delourme :1987: Jean Gayetot :1989:

Mia De Vits Marie Louise "Mia" De Vits (born 31 March 1950) is a Belgian politician. De Vits started her career with the socialist trade union ABVV in 1973, rising through the ranks to become Secretary-General (1989–2002) and its chairman (2002–2004) ...

:2002: André Mordant :2004: Xavier Verboven :2006: Anne Demelenne :2014: Marc Goblet :2017: Robert Vertenueil :2018: Miranda Ulens

Presidents

:1956: Roger Dekeyzer :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:

:2004: André Mordant :2006: Rudy De Leeuw :2018: Robert Vertenueil :2020: Thierry Bodson

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:General Federation Of Belgian Labour 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