Tico workers win battle for fair wages against Canadian firm

A nearly five-year battle for fair pay ended for a group of Latin American workers, most of them Ticos, who helped build the Canada Line rapid transit link between Vancouver and Richmond.

A settlement was reached between some three dozen temporary foreign workers and SELI Canada and SNC Lavalin, CTV News reported on Tuesday. Foreign workers had been paid about half as much as Europeans hired to perform the same construction jobs.

Two unions representing the workers say they will release video in Costa Rica of the workers receiving their paychecks in coming days.

The employees, who estimated they were owed tens of thousands of dollars, had earlier won a multimillion-dollar ruling from the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. The company appealed the ruling, but eventually agreed on a negotiated settlement.