A Fight for Justice

How migrant workers, with the support of Canadian unions, won 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. 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.

The workers' resentment grew in the face of employer lies, intimidation, coercion and prejudice. Most of them came from a group of villages in central Costa Rica. They grew up together, sharing a background of poverty and hardship. These common bonds gave them the courage they needed to face fears of employer retaliation as they organized, which resulted in a successful vote for union certification, a first for temporary foreign workers in the Canadian construction industry.

But their victory was short-lived and their unity was broken by a series of employer "sticks and sweeteners." The fight for fairness continued at the BC Labour Relations Board (BCLRB) and, ultimately, at the BC Human Rights Tribunal in a race against time before the workers left Canada with the completion of the tunnels. In 2008, the tribunal delivered a triumphant decision, a landmark case in the evolving issue of global migration. Workers were awarded $2.4 million to compensate for discrimination based on country of origin; for wages, inferior accommodations, meals and expenses and injury to dignity and feelings.

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.