# General Labour Federation of Belgium

The General Labour Federation of Belgium (French: Fédération générale du travail de Belgique, pronounced, FGTB; Dutch: Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, pronounced, ABVV) 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 (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 which was split in 1978 into a Flemish 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 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. 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.

## 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, 600,945 from Wallonia and 190,613 from Brussels.
| Union | French abbreviation | Flemish abbreviation | Membership 2015 | Membership 2016 | Membership 2017 |
| General Union | CG | AC | 432,271 | 427,517 | 424,095 |
| Association of Employees, Technicians and Managers | SETCa | BBTK | 424,580 | 421,922 | 420,285 |
| General Union of Public Services | CGSP | ACOD | 311,795 | 309,046 | 303,062 |
| Union of the Belgian Metal Industry | CMB | CMB | 160,136 | 156,085 | 153,233 |
| Food, Hospitality and Services Union | HORVAL | HORVAL | 122,794 | 123,468 | 124,214 |
| Belgian Union of Transport Workers | UTB | BTB | 49,831 | 50,471 | 51,684 |
| General Labour Federation of Belgium - Youth | FGTB - Jeunes | ABVV - Jongeren | 43,509 | 46,799 | 41,395 |

### Former affiliates

| Union | French abbreviation | Flemish abbreviation | Founded | Reason no longer affiliated | Date |
| Belgian Union of Tramway and Municipal Transport Workers | CBPT | BCTBAP | 1919 | Merged into ACOD | 1968 |
| Food Production Van Sina | Vansina | Vansina | 1951 | Merged into HORVAL | 1955 |
| General Diamond Workers' Association of Belgium | | ADB | 1895 | Merged into TVD | 1994 |
| Leather Workers' Union | | | 1919 | Merged into AC | 1953 |
| Paper and Publishing Industry Union | CLP | CBP | 1944 | Merged into BBTK and AC | 1996 |
| Textile-Clothing-Diamond Union | TVD | TKD | 1994 | Merged into AC | 2014 |
| Tobacco Workers' Union | | | 1909 | Merged into AC | 1954 |
| Union of Mineworkers of Belgium | CSTMB | NCMB | 1889 | Merged into AC | 1994 |
| Union of Belgian Stoneworkers | COPB | | 1889 | Merged into AC | 1965 |
| Union of Belgian Textile Workers | COTB | TACB | 1898 | Merged into TVD | 1994 |
| Union of Clothing Workers and Kindred Trades in Belgium | CVPS | CKAVB | 1908 | Merged into TVD | 1994 |

## 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.
* Protest against economic austerity in Brussels (29 September 2010)

## Leadership
### General Secretaries

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