Where exactly is the Toronto Eaton Centre?

The question wasn’t posed by an American tourist or a University of Toronto philosophy major.

Rather, it was brought before the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the main point of contention in a 20-month disagreement between an Eaton Centre restaurant that relocated to a new space within the mall, and a union representing workers who lost their jobs in the move.

The labour dispute between Richtree Markets and Unite Here Local 75 hinged on the exact street address of the Eaton Centre, with the restaurant arguing the union’s collective bargaining rights didn’t apply to the new site.

“I found it to be quite farcical, to think that Richtree and their management in the United States felt that they could shut down this store and reopen 50 metres away with all new staff,” said city Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who represents the local ward.

Richtree argued before the Ontario Labour Relations Board that the street address on the union’s collective agreement, 220 Yonge St., did not apply to the new location, given the address of 14 Queen St. W. — which was not a physical entrance to the mall.

Last week, about 140 non-unionized workers at Richtree’s Eaton Centre location ratified a new collective agreement. The settlement ended a fight that began in early 2013 when the Eaton Centre restaurant was shuttered and 50 employees laid off.

In September 2013, the restaurant reopened at the south end of the lower level of the Eaton Centre, about 50 metres away from its previous location and six times larger. None of the employees from the old restaurant were rehired.

At the time, Richtree said it had fairly terminated its old staff and was hiring a new team of non-unionized employees.

The union, which has represented Richtree workers since 1994, took the restaurant before the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

“We had always maintained that it was the same location, and that we had bargaining rights,” said David Sanders, an organizing director with Unite Here Canada.

In January, labour board chair Bernard Fishbein ruled the union’s bargaining rights “should not be extinguished by a move of some 50 metres across the corridor of the mall,” especially to an address “that presently has no real existence other than on a piece of paper.”

“There is no doubt that the official municipal address of the Eaton Centre has not changed (and obviously not moved),” Fishbein wrote in the board’s decision.

The official municipal address of the Eaton Centre is actually 1 Dundas St. W.

Under the new collective agreement, the 50 employees of the old location will have the opportunity to resume working at the restaurant with their seniority intact.

“Everybody who wanted their positions back is coming back to work,” Sanders said.

Islam Nazrul, who worked for Richtree for 25 years before he lost his job, is one of the workers returning to the Eaton Centre.

“This is my home,” Nazrul said.

“The company promised us, they want to take back all the people. Whoever wants to come back can come back. And all the people they’re hiring, everybody has a job — nobody gets laid off.”

Sherry Nolan-Schultz, chief human resources officer at Natural Markets Food Group, which owns Richtree, said she could not explain the company’s labour negotiations because they predate her time with the company.

Nolan-Schultz said the decision to terminate the old location’s staff was made by Natural Markets’ previous CEO.

“Natural Markets puts its love of its team first, and we look forward to an outstanding fourth quarter at the Toronto Eaton Centre,” Nolan-Schultz said.

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Howard Levitt, a Toronto employment lawyer, said Richtree’s original argument before the Labour Relations Board was “absurd.”

“It’s still the same location for labour relations purposes,” Levitt said.

Unite Here represents 9,000 workers in the hospitality industry across the GTA, including hotels, food services and the Rogers Centre, Sanders said.

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