General Labour Federation of Belgium | |
Fédération générale du travail de Belgique Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond | |
Predecessor | Belgian Trade Union Federation |
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Founded | 29 April 1945 |
Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
Location | |
Members | 1.5 million[1] |
Key people | Thierry Bodson, chairperson Miranda Ulens, secretary general |
Affiliations | ITUC, ETUC, TUAC |
Website | www.abvv.be |
The General Labour Federation of Belgium (French: Fédération générale du travail de Belgique, or FGTB; Dutch: Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, 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.[1] 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.[2]