Brazilian mining company Vale Inco has announced that it will hire some contract workers in order to fill positions at the striking nickel and copper mines in Canada.

Sudbury, Canada - On Sunday, the Brazilian giant mining company, Vale Inco, announced that it will bring in contract workers across the picket lines that could break a strike at its Canadian nickel and copper mines in Ontario, according to the Financial Times.

Vale Inco has already continued many operations that are staffed by 1,200 employees who are not on strike and would use existing and contract employees to return to work by the end of the second quarter, however, a date has not yet been confirmed as to when the first contract workers would be brought in.

This move has angered many union representatives and leaders of the United Steelworkers representing roughly 3,200 members on strike in Sudbury and Niagara Falls.

“Sudbury is a powder keg. We are really worried about what this means and so are the police. People will be uncontrollable. They won’t allow contractors to go in past the picket lines. Vale can go and get stuffed. We are sick and tired of foreign capitalists coming in and undermining the Canadian way of life,” said regional director of the USW Wayne Fraser, reports Reuters.

This dispute dates back to 2006 when Vale bought Inco for $17.6 billion but strikes have been ongoing for the last eight months. Negotiations occurred earlier this month at the Metro Convention Center in Toronto where there was also a large rally in support of the USW. However, less than 90 per cent of workers voted against a contract offer.

“We’re looking at increasing our mine production and we’re going to be doing that with a combination of our existing staff employees as well as external mine contractors,” said Vale spokesperson Cory McPhee in a telephone interview with Bloomberg News.