Far Saly formed NTUC in 2012.[1]
In 2015, NTUC protested at Siko Phnom Penh garment factory in Cambodia's capital against the dismissal of a warehouse chief for founding an NTUC branch in the factory.[3] In 2016, NTUC condemned a proposal by Sam Rainsy to the European Parliament to decrease garment imports from Cambodia in order to increase political pressure on the regime of Hun Sen.[4] In that year, the union also stated its discontent with the way the Ministry of Labour had pushed through a new union law.[5] NTUC claims to have had between 20,000 and 30,000 members around 2016, but that more repressive government attitudes towards trade unions shrank the number to 10,000 by 2018.[1]
In the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, NTUC appealed to the government to temporarily close down factories to stop the spread of the pandemic.[6] In 2021, the union called on the government to cancel that year's Cambodian New Year.[7] In January of that year, NTUC president Far Saly was summoned for questioning by a court over allegations of defaming a Chinese factory owner's reputation.[8]
