The Canadian Press reported that Vale Inco has brought in non union staff to restart some of its northern Ontario operations without incident despite an ongoing strike.

It may be noted that about 3,000 unionized workers walked out in July and the company plans to use roughly 1,200 staff to run the Sudbury operation.

The union earlier warned it would start a war if Vale Inco proceeded with plans to restart operations while workers were still on strike.

However, Mr Cory McPhee spokesman of Vale Inco said that the mill started as planned and everybody on all sides of the issue were respectful.

Mr McPhee said that the mill would run for 48 hours to process ore from a stockpile and to ensure it is working properly. He added that "As we get our mining operations in production next week, the mill will continue to operate and process ore

The union has said asking salaried workers to do a job for which they’ve only received limited training is dangerous and the small amount of ore Vale Inco will produce in the process isn’t worth it.

(Sourced from www.thecanadianpress.com)