The Free Trade Union in Cambodia has come out in favor of a new minimum wage for garment workers, far lower than what many of its counterparts have been agitating for over the past several months, bolstering prospects for a compromise with factories. The FTU’s $130 is even lower than the $135 concession put forward by the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, one of the country’s most prominent non government-aligned unions. 

Unlike other supposedly independent unions, however, the FTU has not joined any of the recent protests to demand a major raise to the current minimum wage. It says it decided to shun the protests because the other unions were corrupt, charging workers for T-shirts they were handing out at the demonstrations even though they had been printed at the expense of international unions helping them.

Key union leaders and labor rights activists in Cambodia face the risk of judicial harassment and arrest warrants for organising strikes. This happens even if unions observe all legal obligations, such as giving prior notice and collecting 60,000 signatures of workers confirming their support to strike action.

From September 13 to 16, 2,00,000 garment workers from Cambodia went on a strike to demand a living wage.