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 th ...

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

International Trade Union Confederation The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); german: Internationaler Gewerkschaftsbund (IGB), link=no; es, Confederación Sindical Internacional (CSI), link=no. is the world's largest trade union federation. History The federation w ...

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 The General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (ACLVB or CGSLB) is the smallest of Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country i ...

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

Workers' Party of Belgium The Workers' Party of Belgium (french: Parti du Travail de Belgique, PTB; nl, Partij van de Arbeid van België, PVDA; ) is a Marxist and socialist political party in Belgium. It is one of the few Belgian parties that is a fully national party, r ...

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 ( nl, Belgische Werkliedenpartij, BWP; french: Parti ouvrier belge, POB) was the first major socialist party in Belgium. Founded in 1885, the party was officially disbanded in 1940 and superseded by the Belgian Socialist ...

(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, 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—alo ...

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 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 Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, ...

: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

* 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