Yellowknife (May 24/06) - For now, there will no limit on the number of striking diamond workers who can picket near the Yellowknife airport or BHP headquarters, a court decided Friday.

BHP, embroiled in a now six-week labour battle with several hundred workers from its Ekati mine, was seeking an order that would end the protests.

Territorial Supreme Court Justice Virginia Schuler, however, decided to wait until next week at the earliest to decide whether the picketers should be reined-in.

"Picketing is a part of our legal rights in this country," said Jean-Francois Des Lauriers, regional vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, after the ruling. The union represents 385 or so unionized Ekati workers.

"It allows us to express our views (on) our employers."

In a lawsuit filed May 11, BHP claimed union members harassed and threatened some of the 120 picket-line-crossers. The suit names the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Union of Northern Workers and United Diamond Workers Local 3050.

BHP lawyer David Wotherspoon highlighted a list of confrontations on Friday that he said amounted to "illegal" harassment. They included:

- a black, BHP-contracted security guard who was called a "monkey" and mockingly offered bananas;

- threats of violence directed at workers as they boarded Ekati-bound planes in Yellowknife and Rae-Edzo; and

- blockades set up around an expediting company that ferries workers and supplies to Ekati.

"It's a right to work during a strike," Wotherspoon told the court. "(Employees) should be free to make that decision without threats."

The BHP claims have not been proven in court.

Union lawyer Jennifer Duncan denied strikers had harassed their co-workers and said the picketing has been "peaceful."

"My client at no time has been condoning or supporting illegal activities," Duncan said.

Schuler gave the union until yesterday to file evidence in preparation for a full hearing on the BHP request to limit picketing. She is expected to decide the issue in the near future.

If Schuler sides with BHP, the move would be "devastating" for the union, which uses public protests to push its message - something especially important with a remote worksite like Ekati, said Des Lauriers.

The Ekati diamond mine is 300 km northeast of Yellowknife. About 1,500 non-union members also work at the site, which produces $400 million-$500 million worth of gems each year. Unionized workers went on strike April 7, seeking higher wages and more job security, among other concessions.