Sam Hammond, newly elected president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, is joined by Bob Huget, CEP vice president of Ontario region, and Steve Craig, CEP Local 2003 union steward, as he speaks to a crowd of supporters at a rally in Toronto on August 27, 2009. (Pattie Phillips/CBC News) The Ontario Labour Relations Board is in the process of hearing a case involving a dispute between Cadillac Fairview and a group of its unionized employees that could have serious ramifications for workers across the province.

Real estate giant Cadillac Fairview is at odds with 61 unionized skilled-trades and maintenance employees at its Toronto-Dominion Centre property in downtown Toronto.

After a year of stalled contract talks, the workers were lawfully locked out by Cadillac Fairview on June 14, 2009 — but not before the union filed a complaint with the labour board alleging the company had engaged in bad-faith bargaining throughout the negotiations. The workers, who have been picketing outside of the TD Centre since the lockout began, received termination letters from the company on July 14, 2009.

The company — a subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan — owns and manages 84 properties around the world. With a portfolio valued at roughly $16 billion, the corporation had revenue of nearly $1 billion last fiscal year. The workers are members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) union of Canada, Local 2003.

According to Zoran Grgar, a national CEP representative involved in the negotiations, the union believes Cadillac Fairview was never interested in finding common ground.

"Their conduct right from the beginning was intended to create a situation where they would ask for things in bargaining that were so unpalatable you couldn't possibly agree to them," he said. "The whole thrust of it was to frustrate the union to the point where we couldn't accept the deal."

The company maintains it had every intention of trying to reach a new agreement with the workers. It denies any wrongdoing during the contract negotiations.

"Everything we have done in the process of our bargaining has certainly been legal and in full compliance with the Ontario labour laws as they apply," said Steven Sorensen, the Cadillac Fairview vice-president in charge of the TD Centre, during an interview with CBC's Here and Now in July. (The company declined an opportunity to comment for this story, on the advice of its legal team.)

A much larger issue

Sixty-one members of CEP, Local 2003 have been picketing outside of the Toronto-Dominion Centre in downtown Toronto since June. (Pattie Phillips/CBC News)Labour supporters have been watching this case closely, concerned with the implications it could have for workers across the country.

The issue at stake is a much larger one than a disagreement over a new contract, said Bob Huget, CEP vice-president for the Ontario region.

"This is a fight for fairness, not only for our 61 members but for everyone in the labour movement," he said. "If Cadillac Fairview can do it [terminate unionized employees] here, you can bet your last dollar they're going to try and do it somewhere else. We've got to stop that before it gets started."

Grgar shares Huget's concern.

"What the company is saying here is 'You don't have the right to collectively bargain. You don't have the right to argue about your employment conditions.' And that's something the public should be very concerned about, because that goes to fundamentally undermine all collective agreements and basically all employment relationships," he said.

Teachers back union over pension fund

In recent months, the union's position has been bolstered by support from a group that would actually benefit if Cadillac Fairview wins the case. All four of the teachers unions tied to the pension fund have thrown their support behind the workers, demanding Cadillac Fairview resolve the matter equitably. That includes: the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association and the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens.

A supporter wears a sign at a rally in Toronto August 27, 2009 for 61 union workers fired by Cadillac Fairview in July. So far, three of the four teachers unions, which make up the Ontario Teachers Federation, have come forward to publicly throw their support behind the terminated CEP workers. (Pattie Phillips/CBC News)Sam Hammond, newly elected president of the elementary teachers' union, said the situation concerns his members because similar issues have the potential to crop up elsewhere.

"Here are union members who are protected through collective agreements, and the Cadillac Fairview management board has taken a step beyond that to terminate these people," he said. "It shows a great lack of respect 1) for the process and 2) for these human beings."

Hammond's sentiment is shared by others, including retired high school teacher Eugene Gryski, who said labour laws are legislated to create a certain type of society.

"If people can break those laws and get away with that, then they're ineffective and not in the process of creating the kind of society we want," he said.

Gryski said that while the teachers pension fund operates at arm's length from its member unions, "hands off doesn't mean you can do whatever you want."

"We're not interested in having our pensions paid by what amounts to illegal, and for that matter to a larger extent unethical, activities," he said. "We expect our assets to behave in compliance with the law and in the spirit in which we would expect to be treated ourselves."

For the board to decide

The labour board is now hearing the case. The parties first met on July 31, 2009, but further hearings were postponed until this month. No one is sure how long the process will take, but the union said it hopes for a resolution this fall.

Before the board can rule, however, it will have to gauge Cadillac Fairview's intent during the original contract negotiations. If the union can successfully show the company engaged in surface bargaining — that it was simply going through the motions with no intention of striking a deal — then the board could agree the company entered into negotiations in bad faith.

Should the board rule in the union's favour, it could order both parties back to the negotiating table to hammer out a new collective agreement. For the 61 CEP members on the picket line, this would mean they would get their jobs back — at least until a new contract were negotiated. The board could also award monetary damages to the workers for income lost.

But, after all the hurt feelings and legal wrangling, would the employees really want to go back? According to Steve Craig, a 19-year veteran of Cadillac Fairview and a union steward with the engineers' bargaining unit, that's all the workers have ever wanted.

"We'll be going back with respect, and if you've got respect, you can forget a lot of stuff," he said.

And should the union's case fail?

"We believe that the labour board is a fair body, and if they decide Cadillac Fairview acted within its rights, then … I'm willing to say we're not going to appeal it," said Craig.