Striking workers at a Sudbury-area nickel mine are seeking the support of Vale Inco customers in their fight against the miner, a local newspaper says.

On Thursday, two striking United Steelworkers union members met with Vale customers in Sweden, the Sudbury Star reported.

According to the report, the delegation asked the customer, Boliden, to not purchase any copper concentrate from Vale until the strike at the company's Canadian operations is over.

The meeting came as a shipment of Vale copper made its way from Germany to a Swedish port. Steelworkers held a similar protest at a German port handling the same copper shipment over the weekend, the report says.

Major Swedish union IF Metall arranged the meeting, the report says.

Vale workers in Sudbury have been on strike for three months.

Employees at smaller operations in Port Colborne, Ont., and Voisey's Bay, N.L., are also on strike. In all, roughly 3,500 Vale workers are on strike.

They're the first labour stoppages since Brazil-based Companhia Vale do Rio Doce bought the former Inco Ltd. for $19 billion in October 2006.

Employee bonuses tied to the price of nickel are a major cause of the dispute.

Earlier this month, the company moved to reopen some of the Sudbury mine's operations using non-union labour.

On Friday, International Royalty Corp. and minority partner Altius launched a court challenge against Vale Inco over alleged underpayment of royalties on the sale of nickel concentrates from the Voisey's Bay mine.