The ABVV (General Federation of Belgian Trade Unions) was formed from the merger of the old Belgian Trade Union Federation (BVV) and the unions formed during World War II: the Mouvement Syndical Unifié (MSU), the Belgian Federation of Single Union Unions (BVES), and the General Syndicate of Public Services (ASOD). In April 1945, the merger was ratified by the Merger Congress, and from December onwards, the ABVV began drafting activity reports, which were then submitted to the Congress (the highest national governing body) for approval. Between 1945 and 1968, the reports were called the "Moral and Administrative Report," a term that accurately described them. The reports grew from brochures of about fifty pages to thick report books of between five hundred and one thousand pages. In terms of content, much attention was paid to purely administrative matters. For example, the minutes contained lists of deceased staff members, overviews, concise summaries, and attendance lists of meetings and brief discussions of the congresses. The moral section provided overviews of domestic and international problems, the positions and demands formulated by the ABVV, and the results achieved. In 1972, the nature of the reports changed significantly. The moral, or political, section became increasingly important. The reports covered more of the economic situation at home and abroad, and the positions and actions of the ABVV. The minutes were now called Activity Reports and rarely exceeded three hundred pages. In 1997, this became Operational Report; by then, administrative information was no longer available. The activity reports were drawn up following the statutory congress, which was convened on average every three years. The reports usually covered the year of the previous congress and the two subsequent years. Between 1945 and 1997, the statutory congress was convened seventeen times. The series of operational reports is complete and has been made searchable by means of OCR.
Statutory congress reports ABVV
