{"id":37365,"date":"2026-06-17T16:17:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=37365"},"modified":"2026-06-17T16:17:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:17:30","slug":"sa-labour-unions-urge-workers-to-shun-anti-migrant-protests","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-labour-unions-urge-workers-to-shun-anti-migrant-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"SA labour unions urge workers to shun anti-migrant protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>South Africa&#8217;s (SA) biggest labour unions on Wednesday urged workers not to participate in anti-immigrant protests that have seized the country, and said they could face \u200bconsequences if they skip work to attend.<\/div>\n<div>\nSA is on edge ahead of \u200ca June 30 deadline which anti-immigrant groups have given for all undocumented foreigners to leave the country. Protests and potential civil unrest are expected, after weeks of sometimes violent\u00a0xenophobic attacks.<\/div>\n<div>\nFour major unions \u200bincluding the Congress of SA Trade Unions (COSATU), which represents around two million \u200bpeople, said in a statement that workers would not be protected \u2060if they do not go to work on June 30.<\/div>\n<div>\n&#8220;We urge workers to report \u200bfor duty and not place their employment at risk,&#8221; they said.<\/div>\n<div>\nThe unions echoed President Cyril \u200bRamaphosa&#8217;s call on Tuesday\u00a0not to scapegoat migrants\u00a0for SA&#8217;s problems.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">\n&#8220;Removing foreign nationals from workplaces, communities or public spaces will not reopen factories, repair municipalities, strengthen public healthcare or create sustainable jobs,&#8221; said \u200bthe unions COSATU, Federation of Unions of\u00a0SA, SA Federation of Trade Unions\u00a0and National Council of Trade Unions.<\/div>\n<div>\nAfrica&#8217;s largest economy has more job opportunities than \u200bmany other African countries and has long attracted large numbers of foreign workers.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Some politicians have \u200cseized on \u2060the issue in recent months to blame such migrants for widespread poverty and crime.<\/div>\n<div>\nSA media outlets reported on Wednesday that clashes had erupted between police and thousands of Malawians awaiting repatriation in the coastal city of Durban.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33325,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-37365","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA labour unions urged workers not to participate in anti-immigrant protests","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37367,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37365\/revisions\/37367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=37365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}