Born in the south of Manchester Joseph had a relatively quite youth. His father was a keen political organiser for the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and a veteran of the Falklands conflict. Once leaving school in 2012 Joseph set out to work on the railway working as an Engine Keeper for a time, moulded by the radicalism of his father and the RMT he decided to follow in his father footsteps and become a trade union organiser. He was viewed by many collegues as a firery speaker and hell bent on defending the rights of his fellow workers, subsequently it is where he earned his nickname 'Red'. Eventually rising through the ranks of the union becoming their youngest district organiser. It was due to his prominence in the RMT that he was selected to join the Union's delegation to Norway in late-August 2021. As the situation spiraled out of control he struggled to find a route home in the chaos that consumed the country following the new strain, and ultimately became stranded in Norway.