Vale Inco Sudbury workers OK strike mandate

TORONTO, May 25 (Reuters) - Unionized workers at Vale Inco's (VALE5.SA) Sudbury nickel operations have voted to strike if labor negotiations with the company fail, a union spokesman said on Monday.

"There was a mandate vote, and there was 90 percent in favor of giving permission for a strike," said Bob Gallagher, a spokesman for the United Steelworkers, which represents about 3,500 employees at operations in the nickel and copper hub of Sudbury, Ontario.

Workers also approved a one-week extension of the contract deadline to June 5 from May 31, said Gallagher, adding that the two sides were in the middle of face-to-face talks on Monday.

Brazil's Vale, which took over the operations in 2006 when it bought Canada's Inco, is also negotiating with workers at its Voisey's Bay mine in the eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Workers there have been working without a new contract since the previous deal expired on March 31.

Officials from Vale were not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Cameron French; editing by Rob Wilson)