Freed Thais Offer Thanks During Labor Day Rally : Workers: Sweatshop was ‘like coming to hell,’ one says. Union, state officials urge tougher enforcement of laws in garment industry.

With union placards in their hands and a still-unfamiliar sun overhead, 55 of the Thai garment workers liberated from an El Monte sweatshop last month offered tearful thanks to their emancipators at a Labor Day rally Downtown.

“When I arrived here I became very, very disappointed,” said a woman identified as Jane, 34, who came from Thailand to earn money to support her family. “It was like coming to hell.”

Bowing their heads and clasping one another’s hands, some of the workers on stage with her wept or turned away as she described slave-like conditions inside the compound, where she spent three years. Most of the workers wore white plastic visors or sunglasses Monday to shield them from the daylight that, for some, was rarely seen during their alleged captivity.

Union leaders and state officials said they hoped the Thai workers’ appearance at the rally and a civil lawsuit to be filed against the sweatshop owner today would prompt stricter enforcement of labor laws, particularly in Los Angeles’ garment industry, the nation’s largest.

Federal agents raided the El Monte compound Aug. 2 after one woman crawled over a wall and told local officials of the squalid working conditions and the financial repression imposed on the employees there. Eight alleged operators of the facility have pleaded not guilty to charges that they harbored illegal immigrants and violated labor laws. A ninth suspect is still at large in Thailand, a spokeswoman for the workers said.

“We were basically caged in like animals and were only taken out once a year during the New Year holiday in a truck that had no windows,” said Mariwan, 26, another worker, who was wearing a surfing-design tank top, black jeans and a visor that read “Proud to be Union.”

“I never thought that when I arrived here, I would find these conditions, where I was forced to do things against my will,” said Wan, 22, wearing a white jacket and blue jeans. “That ruined my state of mind and any sense of dignity.”

A month after their release, about half of the 72 workers freed from the compound have new jobs, said Chanchanit Martorell, executive director of the Thai Community Development Center, one of a handful of civic groups looking after the workers. Union attorneys are expected to help them file wage claims against their former employers.

“They want to be as independent and self-sufficient as possible,” said Martorell, who also served as interpreter when three of the workers addressed the audience. “It’s been really hard for them to stay idle because they’re so used to working.”

Some of the workers have returned to garment factories, she said. Others have asked for work in domestic service. The Thai community center is helping to place the workers in new jobs, and screens each potential post to ensure it offers at least the minimum wage and a safe environment, she said.

The workers also have savored their first taste of freedom in America, with visits to Disneyland last Tuesday and a beachfront barbecue in Malibu on Sunday. Disney was one of several major companies that marketed clothing manufactured in the sweatshop, authorities said. A few of the workers wore Disneyland T-shirts at the rally Monday.

Martorell said the workers also are seeking permanent housing. The Thai nationals have permits to work in the United States until the trial of the sweatshop operators is ended, she said, but most hope to remain here and fear retribution if they return to their homeland.

Jim Wood, executive secretary of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, presented the workers with a $2,500 check for their legal defense fund and said their testimony will underscore the importance of unions in securing adequate working conditions.

State officials said the case also will test lawmakers’ ability to track and weed out similar compounds now that the extent of the proliferation of sweatshops is becoming clearer.