The legislative power of the construction worker

Although no architectural project is ever realised without construction workers, labourers remain painfully underrepresented in architectural and construction history. By tracing the origins and development of the Algemene Centrale van de Bouw, the socialist construction union in Belgium, this article responds to this silence. It charts how workers not only affected building practices, but through such practical expertise, also had a significant impact on the legislative framework of the Belgian construction sector beyond the building site.

At first through strikes and later through more institutionalised negotiations, the organisation succeeded in firmly securing and protecting workers’ wages, while through bargaining and press campaigns it helped shape the emergence of safety regulations on construction sites. Moreover, the union skilfully navigated the complex legal landscape of the Belgian construction sector: by strategically employing collective labour agreements and public procurement specifications, it relied on forms of regulation. This approach allowed to bypass the often cumbersome procedures of formal legislation, enabling the union to nevertheless exert a tangible influence on building practices. These legal instruments further allowed the union to respond to the profound technological changes and new construction materials that were entering the sector, by valorising the new risks and technical skills associated with these technologies into improved wage conditions. In this way, construction workers—too often a forgotten voice in architectural, construction, and social history—were able to assert their legislative power and paved the way for the post-war welfare developments in the Belgian construction sector.