General Labour Federation of Belgium


The General Labour Federation of Belgium is a socialist national trade union federation in Belgium. 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 which has 1.6 million members and dwarfing the General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium which has approximately 300,000 members. During the bulk of its history the ABVV/FGTB remained closely affiliated with the Belgian Labour Party founded in 1885, which was renamed the Belgian Socialist Party from 1945-1978 and was split thereafter into a Flemish and a Walloon social-democratic party. While remaining formally independent from any political party since 1937 the ABVV/FGTB noticed the increasing influence by the marxist 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 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. Nonetheless strong ties between the socialist union and the socialist party were maintained until today. After the Second World War in 1945 this independent socialist union became the ABVV/FGTB we know today.

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. This whole process will be named Renardism.

Affiliates

Current affiliates

Leadership

General Secretaries

Presidents