Toronto's TD Centre workers first locked-out, then fired

The Toronto Dominion Centre employees are union members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Local 2003. They're representing theMaintenant/Skilled Trade and Engineers/Operators bargaining units there.

On June 14, 2009, they were LOCKED OUT by the employer Cadillac Fairview.

On July 14, 2009, they were TERMINATED.

CEP and Cadillac Fairview have negotiated contracts together for two decades. There were strong indications that, in light of the financial crisis, Cadillac Fairview would be taking advantage of worker uncertainty and insecurity by viciously attacking the terms and conditions of work. It's pretty clear now that they never had the intention of bargaining in good faith.

Sounds like union busting to you? You'd be right. Even Cadillac Fairview pretty much admits it it their Employee Termination Letter [1]:

"The parties have been unable to come to an agreement on the New Model and contracting out/severance provisions. In the meantime, Cadillac Fairview has continued to provide service to its tenants through a temporary third service provider. Cadillac Fairview has evaluated the performance of the temporary service provider against the New Model and Key Performance Indicators, as well as the costs, and is pleased with the results and the success achieved over the past four weeks.

"In light of the foregoing, Cadillac Fairview has re-evaluated its current operations and has now decided to enter into a permanent agreement with third party service providers to provide all of the work previously performed by Maintenance/Skilled Trade and Engineers and Building Operators at TD Centre. As such, please be advised that your employment with Cadillac Fairview will be terminated immediately."

The gall... Words simply escape me.

You can lend your support to the employees on site at 66 Wellington St. West, in Toronto or on the CEP Local 2003 website [2].

Submitted by Jabberwock on July 20, 2009 - 1:46pm.

How awful. I understand that the local has filed bad-faith bargaining charges at the OLB. Not sure what case law has shown in cases like this in Ontario, but I hope CF gets their asses kicked.

I will contact my national rep and see if any solidarity action is planned at CF sites out here in Vancouver.

I will be thinking of my brothers and sisters in 2003.

Submitted by CEP Worker on July 20, 2009 - 10:35am.

Thanks Jabberwock.

In all likelihood, they will, indeed, get their asses kicked. I really don't understand why they would be picking this losing fight, but they'll definitely pay for this.

I don't know all the Cadillac Fairview sites in Vancouver, but at least two of them can be made as prime targets: Pacific Centre (TD Tower at 700 West Georgia Street, 701 West Georgia Street, Canaccord Tower - 609 Granville Street, 777 Dunsmuir Street, 700 West Pender Street, and 750 West Pender Street) as well as the Waterfront Properties (PricewaterhouseCoopers Place - 250 Howe Street, Granville Square - 200 Granville Street, Waterfront Centre - 200 Burrard Street, and The Station - 601 W. Cordova Street) and the HSBC building (885 West Georgia).

The Cadillac Fairview Vancouver offices are at 609 Granville Street, suite 910.

Thanks for the support!

Submitted by Jabberwock on July 20, 2009 - 1:50pm.

Yes, I actually work in a CF building as do several members of my local. We are thinking about you- I hope we can organize a more formal expression of our solidarity.

I did not realize that CF was owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund.

Submitted by 1weasel on August 5, 2009 - 10:29am.

The local's case went before the board last Friday. Spirits were pretty good on the line despite the heavy rain yesterday afternoon.

Submitted by Michelle on August 5, 2009 - 11:12am.

For those of you who, like me, work near the Eaton Centre, it's a CF building. I've been boycotting it for the past month.

Submitted by Eric Klyne on August 9, 2009 - 7:06pm.

Some 'Replacement Workers' -"SCABS"- are from the IBEW Local Union 353... you should send a small party to demonstrate at their office... Best to just send protesters to this address:
1377 Lawrence Ave East
Toronto, Ontario
M3A3P8
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1377+Lawrence+ave+East+Toronto&sll=43.7741,-79.245672&sspn=0.015711,0.038452&ie=UTF8&g=1377+Lawrence+ave+East+Toronto&s=AARTsJrsS8_uQrRJQIfbj4-0bJ3sIv6WwA&view=map&z=16&iwloc=addr

Also, IBEW 353's next monthly meeting will be on August 13/09 Time: 7:00 PM Location: OFL Building, 15 Gervais Drive, North York
http://maps.google.ca/maps?oe=utf-8&rlz=1R1GGGL_en___CA334&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=ontario+federation+of+laBOUR&fb=1&split=1&gl=ca&cid=0,0,12416024155598046221&ei=SHFSSvSrMIX2sgPR3IiDBw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1 [9]
Another place to demonstrate would be the IBEW 1st District's office
1450 Meyerside Drive, Suite 300, Mississauga, ON L5T 2N5
http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&tab=wl [10]

Submitted by Michelle on August 10, 2009 - 6:22pm.

That's interesting...could you please post some more information about this? Perhaps some corroborating links or something?

Submitted by Eric Klyne on August 12, 2009 - 10:24pm.

Go here:
http://ourlocal353.ca/forums/index.php?topic=4752.0

http://ourlocal353.ca/forums/index.php?topic=4797.0 [13]
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=104383668872 [14]

Submitted by 1weasel on August 27, 2009 - 2:03am.

There will be a show of support today.

Date: Thursday, August 27, 2009
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Location: On the street outside the Toronto Dominion Centre
Street: 66 Wellington Street West
City/Town: Toronto, ON

Submitted by Polunatic2 on August 27, 2009 - 11:10am.

Also here, sponsored by OPSEU:

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2009

5:00 pm

66 Wellington Street west

Toronto's TD Centre workers first locked-out, then fired

Comments