Vale strikers targeting me: business owner

A small business owner in central Labrador claims his company has been the unfair target of striking Vale workers at the Voisey's Bay mine.

Lionel Letemplier employs welders who began working at the mine site on Labrador's northern coast before a strike involving 200 workers started in August 2009.

This weekend, Letemplier's business in Happy Valley-Goose Bay was broken into, and Letemplier told CBC News that he believes it's connected to long-running tensions with union members.

Letemplier vigorously denies accusations that his workers have been filling in for striking members of the United Steelworkers union.

"They're misleading their information to their membership which should not be done," he said in an interview.

Letemplier's name appears on a list of people the union has accused of being replacement workers, commonly referred to as scabs. The list appears on one of the main roads in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, where many Voisey's Bay employees live.

Letemplier said he does not believe the leadership of the United Steelworkers union is directly behind the break-in, but said he is upset that he has been named in a campaign,

"This all happened after we've been targeted, and they put our name over there — that's when things started happening, so draw your own conclusions," he said.

No one from the United Steelworkers was available for an interview Monday.

Two windows were smashed during the break-in, and a welder worth $1,000 was the only thing stolen.

Letemplier said he hopes the two sides settle the strike soon before anything else happens to his business.

Talks between Vale — which settled a larger strike in Ontario earlier this month — are set to resume negotiations this month with the Steelworkers.