The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) has condemned what it describes as an escalating “jobs bloodbath” across the country, warning that retrenchments in key sectors have reached crisis proportions and threaten the livelihoods of millions. In a statement released in early September, SAFTU said the scale of job losses was no accident but the result of “neoliberal policies, austerity, and corporate greed”, with the federation declaring that “every retrenchment is intolerable, every job loss is a crisis, and every closure is an attack on our class – the working class.”

SAFTU noted that the impact spans from the steel industry to agriculture, auto manufacturing and the state-owned Post Office (SAPO), with major employers such as Daybreak Foods, ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA), Goodyear, Ford SA, SAB/AB InBev, and Glencore all slashing jobs or threatening closures. According to the federation, more than 2 200 jobs are at risk at Daybreak Foods, nearly 4 000 at AMSA, over 900 at Goodyear’s Kariega plant, and more than 4 000 at the SAPO, with the wider fallout for supply chains, mining, logistics and service industries potentially affecting tens of thousands more workers.

The union’s leadership has called for an immediate moratorium on retrenchments at companies and state-owned enterprises, full enforcement of public-interest merger conditions, and an end to “mass layoffs” at Daybreak, AMSA, Glencore and other major employers. SAFTU is also demanding emergency income support and retraining for affected workers, as well as debt protection and a halt to evictions linked to retrenchments.

The union’s figures paint a stark picture of the collapse of South Africa’s industrial base, highlighting that manufacturing employment fell from 1.4 million in 2005 to just 1.09 million in 2021 – a loss of 309 000 jobs. In 2025 alone, 23 000 jobs were lost in manufacturing, while output declined by 3.4% year-on-year. Mining, which has historically underpinned the economy, has seen employment shrink by 442 000 jobs since the late 1980s, averaging 12 000 job losses per year. Formal non-agricultural employment declined by 95 000 jobs year-on-year to March 2025.

SAFTU’s general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, announced that the federation will convene an extended Campaigns Committee on 16 September to coordinate a national response, including working with other labour and civil society organisations. The union also plans a Working-Class Summit to build what it calls “a unified programme of struggle” to confront not only retrenchments but also the wider crises of hunger, health, water, and corruption in the public sector.

SAFTU’s position underscores a growing fear that the deepening wave of job losses is a symptom of a broader deindustrialisation, with unions blaming years of policy drift, weak demand, and a lack of structural reform for the accelerating collapse. As the Reserve Bank warns of the impact of U.S. tariffs and further shocks to agriculture and autos, the risk is that the crisis could intensify unless targeted measures are taken to stabilise employment and revive South Africa’s productive sectors.