Liga Geral dos Trabalhadores de Angola ('General League of Angolan Workers', abbreviated LGTA) was an Angolan trade union organization in exile. Being based amongst Angolan refugees in neighbouring Congo-Kinshasa, LGTA was linked to the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). During the 1960s, LGTA was the largest Angolan trade union outfit.Mielke, Siegfried. Internationales Gewerkschaftshandbuch. Opladen: Laske + Budrich, 1983. pp. 204-205
Founding LGTA was launched in order to counter the pro-MPLA exile trade union UNTA.Ikwezi, eds. 1–4. p. 11 The new organization was based in Leopoldville/Kinshasa (Congo). In its initial phase, LGTA received support from the Congolese trade union centre FGTK.Marcum, John A. The Angolan Revolution. Vol. 2, Exile Politics and Guerrilla Warfare (1962-1976). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, 1978. p. 117
International affiliations LGTA joined the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and AFRO (the regional ICFTU organization) in 1961. LGTA had around 1,500 members in the mid-1960s.United States. Labor Digests on Countries in Africa. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1966. p. 4 LGTA received funding from ICFTU and AFL-CIO. This funding was passed on to the FNLA and the UPA.Burchett, Wilfred G. Southern Africa Stands Up: The Revolutions in Angola, Mozambique, Rhodesia, Namibia, and South Africa. New York: Urizen Books, 1978. p. 29
Expansion of activities In 1963 LGTA conducted a modest expansion of its activities. It set up women's and youth wings, FLGTA and JLGTA.Comhaire-Sylvain, Suzanne. Femmes de Kinshasa hier et aujourd'hui. Paris, Le Haye: Mouton, 1968. p. 276 The youth wing was running educational programmes. Moreover the organization began organizing Angolan villagers in areas under the control of guerrillas.Marcum, John A. The Angolan Revolution. Vol. 2, Exile Politics and Guerrilla Warfare (1962-1976). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, 1978. p. 104
Kassinda André Martins-Kassinda was appointed general secretary of LGTA.Kamabaya, Moisés. O renascimento da personalidade africana: história. Luanda: Editorial Nzila, 2003. p. 181Chilcote, Ronald H. Emerging Nationalism in Portuguese Africa. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press Stanford Univ, 1969. p. 31Link, Vol. 7 - eds. 26–52. United India Periodicals, 1965. p. 72 However, Kassinda rebelled against the FNLA leader Holden Roberto soon thereafter.Butler Hendrick, Allison. Area handbook for Angola. American University (Washington, D.C.). Foreign Areas Studies Division, 1967. p. 224 On February 8, 1963 the LGTA executive sent a formal request to obtain membership in the FNLA, seeking to expand trade union activities and behind able to form a counter-weight to Holden.Marcum, John A. The Angolan Revolution. Vol. 2, Exile Politics and Guerrilla Warfare (1962-1976). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, 1978. p. 370 Eventually breaking with Holden, Kassinda charged the FNLA with 'tribalism'.Harsch, Ernest, and Tony Thomas. Angola: The Hidden History of Washington's War. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1976. Kassinda's new political outfit, the Angolan People's Council, launched a new trade union, UGTA.Southern Africa, Vol. 4. Southern Africa Committee, 1971. p. v After the Kassinda split, Pedro Barreiro Lulendo became the new LGTA secretary. Pedro Rana was administrative secretary and Pierre Naninthela was the regional secretary for Congo.Africa report, Vol. 9–10. African-American Institute. p. xxvIFPAAW snips. International Federation of Plantation, Agricultural, and Allied Workers, 1962. p. 148
Later period By the early 1970s, LGTA claimed to have 33,000 members. The African-American Labor Center and the Union nationale des travailleurs congolais (later renamed Union nationale des travailleurs zaïrois, UNTZa) organized joint seminars and courses for organizers of LGTA and the Catholic union CGTA, focusing on labour history, organizing, administration and rural cooperatives. By October 1971 some 115 Angolan exiled unionists had participated in these trainings. In 1973 an Italian union helped LGTA set up its own training centre.Marcum, John A. The Angolan Revolution. Vol. 2, Exile Politics and Guerrilla Warfare (1962-1976). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, 1978. pp. 190, 394
On September 22, 1973 LGTA merged with CGTA, forming Central Sindical Angolana ('Angolan Trade Union Centre', CSA).Report of the World Congress. International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 1975. p. 99
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