Fédération générale du travail de Belgique

The General Labour Federation of Belgium (French: Fédération générale du travail de Belgique, pronounced [fedeʁɑsjɔ̃ ʒeneʁal dy tʁavaj də bɛlʒik], FGTB; Dutch: Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, pronounced [ˈɑlɣəmeːn ˈbɛlɣis ˈfɑkfərˌbɔnt], 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.