"‘I want to help’: Businessman rejects blame as workers take refuge in shipping containers,"

On a semi-rural property south of Auckland, a group of Filipino migrant workers emerge from the dark, cramped shipping containers they now call home.

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The group of migrants used to be employed by Stone Paving / Concrete Finishing Ltd, a company owned by Mel Escobar, which entered liquidation on November 4...

A copy of liquidator Pritesh Patel’s first report lists [the migrant workers] amongst Stone Paving’s creditors.

Patel says it’s unclear how much the workers are owed in unpaid wages.

Then there’s the migrants’ living situation - while cosy, the shipping containers are a tight squeeze and packed full of the workers’ possessions. The men share a port-a-loo and a makeshift shower - instead of a shower head, there’s a bucket of cold water...

The migrants have laid a complaint with Immigration New Zealand. Rangis has subsequently received a new visa and has started a new job, working for Schuurkamp...

Immigration Compliance and Investigations General Manager Steve Watson says INZ is considering the migrants’ complaint...

Escobar says the situation is “not my fault”.

He says he had advised the workers the company would be closing, and they asked him to hold off so they could apply for work with other companies...