A Fight for Justice: The Compelling Story of Temporary Foreign Workers & Human Rights

by Joe Barrett

Overview

How Latin American migrant workers overcame broken promises and recovered their dreams, with support from the union, to win justice in a landmark court decision. In April 2006, 42 Latin Americans landed in Vancouver to excavate tunnels for the Canada Line Skytrain. They thought they’ d won the lottery with promised wages far above what they would earn at home. But the reality was miserable wages, unpaid overtime and inadequate living conditions - they worked 66 hours per week for less than $4 per hour. Barrett, fluent in Spanish and a researcher for BC building trades unions, began his involvement by investigating the allegation that migrant workers were earning less than $4 per hour. He shares his unique insider perspective as he joined the team of union organizers and became a liaison between workers, union officials and lawyers throughout the court battles. A Fight for Justice is an inspiring story of collective action and relationships across progressive communities and offers a remarkable story of migrant workers successfully fighting for fairness and equality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781553807391
Publisher:	Ronsdale Press
Publication date:	05/05/2026
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Joe Barrett worked as a researcher/writer for construction unions for over 20 years. He is the author of more than 50 features and news stories for Tradetalk Magazine, a quarterly of the BC Building Trades Council. Barrett has a lifetime of political activism working on 22 federal and provincial elections across the country. He was trained as a high school Spanish teacher and taught FSL and French Immersion in the Yukon and BC. He has lived in several Latin American countries including; Nicaragua, Cuba and Chile. Barrett lives in Victoria, BC.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1 – The Best Job We’ d Ever Had

Chapter 2 – Like We’ d Won the Lottery

Chapter 3 – No Value to the Project

Chapter 4 – It’ s True, They’ re Earning $1,000 a Month

Chapter 5 – It’ s About Our Dignity

Chapter 6 – We Did Feel Like Traitors

Chapter 7 – The 10 Day Campaign

Chapter 8 – Voting Day

Chapter 9 – Victory and Backlash

Chapter 10 – Payday

Chapter 11 – Sticks and Sweeteners

Chapter 12 – Bargaining Begins

Chapter 13 – The Last Offer Vote

Chapter 14 – The Strike Vote

Chapter 15 – The Matacheski Hearings

Chapter 16 – Good Tico or Bad Tico (Topalian Hearings – Part 1)

Chapter 17 – The Evidence, in My Review, Is Not Unequivocal (Topalian Hearings – Part 2

Chapter 18 – State of Mind (Topalian Hearings – Part 3)

Chapter 19 – On the Basis of Race, Colour, Ancestry or Country of Origin

Chapter 20 – If You Don’ t Do a Favour for SELI It Doesn’ t Look Good

Chapter 21 – Are You Bribing Me?

Chapter 22 – It Was a Good Company, Like Family

Chapter 23 – Human Rights are More Than Simply Individual Rights

Chapter 24 – That Is Not the Appropriate Way to Litigate a Matter in Front of Us

Chapter 25 – So It’ s Just a Coincidence?

Chapter 26 – Would You Give Them One Million Each?

Chapter 27 – Who Did What, Where and For How Long

Chapter 28 – Rebuttal Evidence - Costa Rican Skills

Chapter 29 – A “ Certain Employee” Opts Back into the Complaint

Chapter 30 – A Precedent for the Entire Country

Chapter 31 – We Would Have Been Stuck Receiving $1,000 a Month For The Entire Time

Epilogue

Acknowledgements