Khmom, 19, is one of the estimated 400,000 factory workers toiling in Cambodia's garment factories, the country's biggest export earner. She recently lost her job at a factory in the capital, Phnom Penh, after taking time off to look after her two-year old daughter, who clings silently to her shoulder. "The factories don't care about us," she says. "They pay us so little, work us so hard and throw us away when we cannot work for a moment."

Khmom is from Damnak Sdach, a village about 50km from the capital that has no running water or electricity. She was the only one of her five siblings with a job that pays. Her elder brother, the first born, is a Buddhist monk, as is traditional in many Khmer families.

Khmom lives in a single rented room in Phnom Penh's Boeung Trabek commune. Her situation is typical. "My husband is a moto-bai-kong [tuk-tuk] driver and his salary is so little – some days nothing at all," she says. "My parents are uneducated and unable to find paying jobs. There is no work in the countryside, so I have to work in the factories."

This precarious existence – pressure from rural families to remit money while struggling to deal with urban inflation, long shifts in poor conditions, and job insecurity – has resulted in discontent. In May, protests led to the deaths of two workers at a footwear company. Between 2010 and 2012, the number of strikes increased by nearly 170%, according to a July report on working conditions in Cambodia's garment sector produced by Better Factories Cambodia, an International Labour Organisation (ILO) project that monitors and reports on the country's industrial facilities.

The report found that over the past three years insufficient attention has been given to working conditions, particularly fire safety, child labour and worker safety and health. "At the moment when global garment and footwear buyers are publicly stating that they seek factories and business partners that show workers more consideration, the current and recent synthesis reports reveal a lack of attention to working conditions. This can have a direct impact on workers and on the health of the industry as a whole," it said.

Cambodia's garment industry is now worth $1.5bn, employing almost 400,000 workers – 90% of them young women – in more than 400 factories nationwide. The country has a reputation for fair treatment of workers, based on its labour laws, the presence of workers' unions and a minimum wage. Most of the garment companies are contract manufacturers for overseas firms.

However, according to David Welsh, Cambodia programme director for the Solidarity Centre, employees are becoming increasingly agitated that they are not profiting fairly from the spoils of their work. "Workers are, frankly, far more savvy than they get credit for, and can see these vast amounts of money being made off the backs of some of the poorest workers in the region and how little they get back in return", he says.

Wages are top of the list of worker concerns. In May 2013, there was an increase from $60 to $75 a month, plus a $5 living allowance. But Welsh says this type of incremental increase has brought little benefit for workers, since it has been swallowed up by increases in rent and other expenses.

The political opposition has campaigned for $150 a month – with some unions pushing for more. But Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), said this could have negative implications for the industry. "The garment industry is a footloose industry – it is not difficult for any investor to uproot and move its investment elsewhere," he said. "In Cambodia the industry is made up of predominantly foreign investors. If investors decide to relocate, there would be no local factories that would rise to take these places."

He added: "We do not own the brand of the items we are producing [so] our profits are determined by the brands and retailers who place orders with us – they have the ability and the finances to increase the minimum wage, not us. The focus has to be on the brands and retailers to start paying factories more, so that in return we have the ability to pay our workers more."

According to Welsh, Cambodia, with its decent labour laws and wages, is the perfect ground to showcase responsible garment production. "There is no better market in the world than Cambodia to make changes on an industry-wide level," he says. "There are only 400 factories in Cambodia so this could become a genuine model for others around the world."

But the industry and government need to deliver on the reputation for decent working conditions touted as a competitive advantage for the past decade, said Jason Judd, technical specialist at the ILO Better Factories programme, echoing a view reflected in the Better Factories Cambodia report. "In the post-Rana Plaza era, improving working conditions – and a willingness to show it through public disclosure – needs to become the norm," he says.

For Khmom, who soon landed another factory job at the minimum wage, powerlessness is an expected aspect of poverty. "The poor are always unlucky, there is nothing we can do," she said with a shrug. "One cannot break a stone with an egg."