Access to “virtually all” of Vale Inco's plants has been blocked by striking members of Steelworkers Local 6500 since early this morning (Feb. 10).

Vale Inco spokesperson Steve Ball said “illegal” secondary picket lines, or picket lines aside from established picket lines, have also been set up in some locations.

He said employees who normally cross the picket lines are being advised by their supervisors whether or not they should show up for work today.

“Obviously, we're going to keep testing the lines, even if they're blockaded. But we certainly don't want people to put themselves in any spots of danger,” he said.

“We've got security people there. Each plant has got some kind of individual protocols in place, depending on whether the blockade is actually at the picket line, or whether it's (at a) secondary line away from the main (picket) line.”

Ball said the blockades are “certainly” a breach of picket line protocol, which is set out by a court injunction.

“Based on the actions from today, we will be considering our options. That will be in the hands of our legal department.”

Steelworkers Local 6500 president John Fera could not be immediately reached for comment about the situation.

Vale Inco vice-president of production services and support John Pollesel wrote about what he called “an escalation of acts of intimidation and violence in relation to the strike” in a Feb. 9 message on a Vale Inco website dedicated to the labour dispute, www.valeinconegotiations.com.

“We have witnessed incidents involving a large number of disguised people who have created blockades several hundred feet from those picket lines previously agreed to and who have been threatening violence to our employees and those providing services to us,” Pollesel wrote.

“Alarmingly, we have started to see a trend of staff employees being harassed and intimidated by other individuals or groups in public gathering places, as well as threatening harm to family members and personal property.”