The SFTU was involved in the campaign to win democratic and pluralist reforms in Swaziland, as well as the removal of restrictive labour legislation.
Members of the SFTU faced considerable opposition. In 1995, general secretary at the time, Jan Sithole was threatened with deportation, and later kidnapped and abandoned in the boot of a car. In 2002, he was publicly threatened by a Swazi senator and government delegate to the International Labour Organization.
The death of Mxolisi Mbata, treasurer of the SFTU, was attributed to injuries he incurred as a result of a beating received from police after they broke up an SFTU general council meeting.