Iron strong

The history of the Flemish metal industry

This book has two storylines. First, it focuses on the evolution of the Flemish metal industry over the past 250 years or so. Then, it examines how the (socialist) metalworkers organized themselves throughout this time to defend their interests. This was no easy task. The Flemish metal industry and the socialist metalworkers' union in Flanders were long dominated by the Walloon steel industry and the somewhat less fervent unionism of the steelworkers below the steel border. This created the monolithic image of a Belgian metal industry dominated by the steel industry and machine production, and a Belgian metalworkers' union tinged with Walloon voluntarism.

However, the study of the Flemish metal industry and the socialist metalworkers' union above the language border reveals a very different picture. Although the Flemish metal industry also had its roots primarily in Ghent's mechanical engineering (textile industry), the sector quickly grew into a diverse and highly industrialized sector, with significant electrical engineering (Bell, ATEA, Philips, Barco, etc.), non-ferrous metals (Nyrstar, etc.), automotive construction (General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Renault, Volvo, but also Peugeot, Mercedes, Triumph, Saab, Bogward, etc.), and ultimately its own steel industry (Sidmar, Aperam, etc.). This diversity means that the socialist metalworkers' union ABVV-Metaal still represents the interests of a broad group of metalworkers in Flanders today. And although the Flemish metalworkers' union has also been pushed onto the defensive since the 1974 economic crisis, it is not a passive union movement. On the contrary, IJzersterk demonstrates that Flemish metalworkers experienced revolutionary upheavals just as much as their counterparts in the south of the country. Although consultation was always preferred. The conflicts between Flemish and Walloon unions were perhaps most pronounced in the former federal Metalworkers' Federation of Belgium. It is therefore not surprising that the Flemish and Walloon/Brussels metalworkers gradually sought their own path. Since 2006, ABVV-Metaal has been an autonomous Flemish metalworkers' union within the ABVV.

Luc Peiren
ABVV-Metaal/Amsab-ISG, Brussels/Ghent, 2018, 353 pp., ill., hardcover