Slavery in Angola within the first six months of 1961. The Portuguese Army and Air Force put down the uprising and blacked out the incident to the press. The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) said the Portuguese military killed ten thousand people in the massacre. Conservative estimates are around 400 casualties. These events are considered the beginning of the Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974). After the April 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon, Angola was offered independence from Portugal. After independence in 1975, during the Angolan Civil War (1975-2002), both the largest opposition group, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
Trade unions in Angola Trade unions in Angola Before 1975, while under Portuguese rule, Trade unions in Angola existed primarily as "occupational syndicates" - operating welfare services, but banned from collective bargaining and strike action. Independent African trade unions were illegal, however, some underground or exiled unions existed, and were involved in the struggle for Angolan independence. When the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) came to power in 1975 the National Union of Angolan Workers (UNTA) became the sole national trade union centre. There is now an independent trade union centre as well, the General Centre of Independent and Free Unions of