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

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. It was the beginning of the Canadian construction industry's reliance on migrant workers and the treatment of temporary foreign workers has made headlines ever since. Author, Joe Barrett, fluent in Spanish and a researcher for BC Building Trades unions, first spoke to three of the Costa Rican workers through a chain link around the worksite. They confirmed the low wages. 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 in Canada and Latin America and offers a remarkable story of migrant workers successfully fighting for fairness and equality.