Unifor's Atlantic director, the chair of Unifor Local 597 and the local union itself will go to court for a contempt hearing late next week, a Gander judge ruled Tuesday.

Justice Donald Burrage ruled that D-J Composites had met the standard of evidence to make a case that Local 597 has violated a 2017 court injunction.

The company sought and obtained an injunction in 2017 to prevent picketers from blocking access to the plant.

Lana Payne is the Atlantic regional director for Unifor. (Sherry Vivian/CBC)

Burrage also ruled that a preliminary case had been made against Unifor and Jerry Dias, the Unifor national president. However, it is not yet clear when that hearing would be held.

D-J Composites and Unifor were in court in Gander over the blockade of the company's building in Gander that has prevented replacement workers from entering the site.

Unifor, the union that represents the workers that have been locked out for over 650 days, organized hundreds of members to line the entrance to D-J Composites building last week, and the blockade has not been significantly reduced since.

D-J Composites officials wanted Unifor to be held in contempt of court for the blockade.

One argument at the centre of Tuesday's court process was whether the company can seek the same injunction against "unnamed persons" — or anyone who is found participating in the blockade.

Judge Burrage said he is reserving his decision on that issue, and although he will not order sheriffs officers to arrest people on the picket line at this point, he may do so later.

Burrage stressed that his decision is based on legal issues alone — and said his court cannot be a labour dispute resolution board.

Digging in

In his arguments, a lawyer for D-J Composites said the presence of a fence at the plant site is clear proof that the court order was being "flaunted" by Unifor.

The union's actions are "vigilante justice," "flagrant" and "common-sense mischief," the lawyer said.

A lawyer for Unifor responded by arguing against issuing a show cause order to "unnamed persons," in part because it would mean power leaves the court and goes to sheriff's officers, who then have to find a way to enforce that order.

This hearing is a precursor to a contempt of court hearing. If D-J is successful at this stage (a show cause hearing) then a hearing would be set. D-J has started the process against local chair Ignatius Oram and Unifor’s Atlantic dir. Lana Payne. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbcnl?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cbcnl</a> —@GarrettBarry

A comment made to RCMP by Ignatius Oram, chair of Local 597, that nobody was getting back in the building was "flimsy" as evidence, the Unifor lawyer said, and could simply be an assessment of the situation rather than an order.

D-J Composites is relying on media reports and online posts that shouldn't be considered evidence because the authors of those posts are not testifying, Unifor lawyers added.

D-J Composites manager Peter Rayner said during cross-examination Tuesday that as recently as yesterday he tried to access the plant and was denied. He is being told different things each time, he said, but not being allowed access.

Jerry Dias of Unifor says he and Premier Dwight Ball talked about possible reconvening the House of Assembly to pass legislation related to the labour dispute. (Eddy Kennedy/CBC )

"For us this is an illegal picket line. It's an illegal blockage," Ivano Andriani, president of the Pragmatic Group of Companies, told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show last week.

For its part, Unifor has said it will keep up its presence.

"We're here as long as it takes," Lana Payne, a director with Unifor, said last week.

"We said this yesterday, we said it last week, we said it a month ago that we were going to be escalating our defence of these 30 workers."

Dias and Ball meet

On Monday, Unifor national president Jerry Dias and Premier Dwight Ball met at Confederation Building.

Thirty members of Unifor Local 597 have been locked out by D-J Composites in Gander, N.L., since December 2016. (CBC)

Ball said an option is to reconvene the House of Assembly early, to try and pass legislation that would force D-J Composites and the unionized workers into binding arbitration.

But first, Ball said, he wanted to take 48 hours to talk to D-J Composites, which is based in Kansas and operates in Gander.

With files from Garrett Barry and Ryan Cooke