A man fired after being accused of leading a wildcat strike in Long Harbour says he didn't deserve to be singled out.

"I can honestly say I was far from an instigator," said Fabian Smith, one of five Vale workers fired after the company claimed he helped initiate the illegal strike this past summer.

"I was chosen as a spokesman for the crane operators and I did just that," said Smith.

"I don't know how you can shoot the messenger."

In a letter of dismissal from the Long Harbour Employers Council, the workers were told that the contractor identified them as instigators of the strike following a review of video taken at the picket line.

"I certainly wasn't the voice of over one thousand men to walk off a job," said Smith. "So how you can pick four, five guys out of a group and say, 'alright these are the guys we're going after.' It doesn't make no sense to me."

The umbrella union at the site has filed a grievance over the firings.

Vale is building a $3.6-billion plant to process nickel concentrate from Voisey's Bay.