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

by Joe Barrett

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

Published May 5, 2026

About the author

Joe Barrett began his acting career at the age of five, in the basement of his family's home in upstate New York. He played the non-speaking "Old Gardener" in a drama written by his seven older siblings. The character was murdered in the opening scene, setting the plot in motion. Joe does not remember the plot but knows the murder was gruesome and heinous. He has gone on to play many stage roles, old and young, both on and off-Broadway and in regional theaters from Los Angeles, Houston, and St. Louis to Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Portland, Maine. He has also appeared in films and on television, and in hundreds of television and radio commercials.

Joe has had six Audie nominations and 8 Earphones awards from AudioFile Magazine.

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Fight For Justice by Joe Barrett is a well-researched and heavily detailed report of British Columbia's efforts to recruit cheaper labor from Costa Rica and other Central American countries to build an underground train tunnel. There was a bid from local labor, but they wanted to get cheaper labor for what is a strenuous and dangerous job. The union in the area learned about and began contacting the new hires from Central America. The unions in Costa Rica were ineffective, and joining was dangerous. There is a huge salary difference between skilled laborers working as tunnel diggers in Vancouver and those in Costa Rica.

There was a campaign to recruit workers from Costa Rica and other Central American countries to join the union. It had to be secretive; the company contacted for the build of the tunnel had spies. Not only were lower wages offered, but they were housed in decrepid motel, that was not really clean. Meals were promised, which was a joke. The calories were insufficient for the long and grueling hours of labor. Their culture was ignored, and they were not used to eating greasy food.

The worker soon found out that the outside local workers were just doing clean up instead of the grueling, strenuous, and dangerous work and paid much more. That encouraged them to join the union and fight for better wages, lodging and meals. The fight was long and hard. Many friendships were made between the workers and the union people. There are photos of the workers, mostly small, but the one that I love the most is a lead worker enjoying his first experience of snow in his life, sliding down a snow covered hillside on a day hike to Mount Seymour arranged by the union. You can see the look of pure joy on his face. The union made sure that the workers' medical needs were handled, like an emergency surgery for one worker and another worker's need for dental treatment.

[Mitchell Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was riveting, and I can't say I expected that. It felt as though I was reading a thriller - always eager to hear what happened next. Maybe not the anticipated experience when picking up a book about a 21st century train tunnel being built, right? It's a really heartwarming story - not just of success, but also seeing the friendship formed amongst the workers themselves, as well as with the author.

I have to say, I'm shocked I had not heard of this story before. Such a tragic situation (skilled workers in my province, in my lifetime, earning less than $1000/month? plus all the other examples of coercion and poor treatment along the way?), such a groundbreaking verdict, such a high reward. This story needs to be taught in schools because I feel so many have the impression that such blatant disregard of labour laws is unthinkably far in the past. Unfortunately, the Temporary Foreign Worker problem is still making headlines for its issues 20 years later.

Something about the writing made it so easy to read. A critique I have could be for the overwhelming list of characters; however, I'm still happy I got introduced to them all and that they have been memorialized in this work. I guess that's what the appendix is for! Speaking of which, the notes and index are impressive. So much detail. Great work.

[Caelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this page turner of a book about an important piece of labour organizing in British Columbia.

Migrant workers, with the help of their union, fought back against a racist employer, and won. We need more stories like this to be told, so I really appreciate Joe documenting this important moment in time.