Factory slaves toil for
                 pittance

                 Pictured: Mr Paul Kent and Roger
                 Oldfield. 

                 By Keith Perry and Darrel
                 Mager 

                 A sack of rice, a few eggs
                 and a cheap formica table and chairs represent the small
                 luxuries provided for a group of Thai women allegedly
                 forced to work as slaves. 

                 In a West Auckland sweatshop, this ramshackle
                 restroom gave the seven women a respite from
                 dawn-to-dusk drudgery. 

                 The workers, allegedly paid only $570 a month for
                 gruelling 13-hour days, were said to have been living at
                 the Glen Eden clothing factory of KC Fashions. 

                 Yesterday, just 24 hours after police raided it and freed
                 the women, locals told of the miserable existence the
                 workers eked out at the workshop, off West Coast Rd. 

                 Cabinetmakers Paul Kent and Roger Oldfield, who work
                 at a neighbouring unit in the small industrial park, told of
                 lights flickering throughout the night and the bizarre sight
                 of the women washing their hair using buckets in the
                 factory carpark. 

                 They said the women were brought to the factory at 7.30
                 each morning in two minivans. 

                 "The women were all Asian and would still be working at
                 10 pm," said Mr Kent. 

                 "You could see them eating from large bowls in the
                 downstairs restroom. We think some of the women
                 stayed all night as the lights would stay on much later. 

                 "After three or four months a new group of women would
                 replace them. The arrivals would stand outside the
                 factory and take photos of the Waitakere Ranges
                 opposite. You would say hello, but they clearly didn't
                 speak any English." 

                 Mr Kent once noticed officials in suits watching the
                 building and suspected they might be from the
                 Immigration Service. 

                 An employee at Glen Eden Dry Cleaners opposite the
                 factory told of the grim conditions. 

                 "One of my customers said she went into the factory to
                 have something made. She said the stench of sweat was
                 suffocating. It smelled like people were sleeping there. 

                 "You used to see these Thai women washing their hair in
                 the morning in the carpark. They queued up to use two
                 buckets. It was disgusting, like something in the Third
                 World." 

                 The Labour Department yesterday launched an
                 investigation into the allegations, but the Thai workers'
                 West Auckland employer, Wiliwan Sivoravong, denied
                 running a sweatshop or taking the women's passports. 

                 She said she held the passports in case immigration
                 officials wanted to inspect them and would have returned
                 them if asked. She refused to comment further.