FairPoint Communications said Tuesday that there has been an “unacceptable and potentially dangerous” spike in vandalism to its telecommunications network since its employees in northern New England went on strike more than a week ago.

The company has investigated eight incidents of vandalism to its telecommunications infrastructure and facilities since the strike began nine days ago, said FairPoint spokeswoman Angelynne Beaudry.

When pressed for details on the vandalism, Beaudry said the company logged one case of tampering in Maine. The incident took place at the U.S. Post Office in Newport, where a replacement technician found wiring that had been altered.

In the five years before the strike, the company said it investigated one case of vandalism, not including theft of copper wire.

“We’re extremely upset and concerned,” Mike Reed, FairPoint’s president in Maine, said Tuesday. “We have to worry about our customers and the integrity of our network. Our economy is riding on that network. Our customers’ ability to reach emergency services is riding on that network. … We’re not accusing anyone, but we as a state can’t have that happen.”

The unions representing the striking workers, including roughly 800 in Maine, dismissed the company’s allegations as a ploy to distract the public from its inability to maintain customer service with the replacement workers.

“It’s bogus,” said Peter McLaughlin, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ local chapter in Augusta and one of the lead negotiators for the unions.

The company is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who provides information “leading to the arrest and conviction of any unauthorized persons tampering with, damaging or destroying its network or equipment,” which besides serving customers also carries Maine’s 911 emergency calls, according to a written statement. The company did not directly blame the unions and striking workers for the vandalism, but it did ask them for help in preventing future incidents.

“Most of the strikers are exercising their legal right to stop working and to publicize their position, but it is no coincidence that these acts of vandalism are being committed during the strike,” Beaudry said in the statement. “It is not enough for strikers to deny that they are vandals. We understand that the vast majority would never vandalize. But it is time to help us stop the vandalism.”

At the post office in Newport, the technician discovered that some service wires in what’s called a “cross box” had been moved from active terminals to inactive terminals.

“This is a highly unusual incident and has not happened before,” Beaudry said. “Again, you have to know what you are doing to do this act.”

The company didn’t respond to a question about whether it filed a police report, and calls to the Newport Police Department were not returned Tuesday afternoon.

“We’re an easy target to lay blame on,” said McLaughlin, the union spokesman. “Their systems don’t work well and the people they hired to take our place are woefully inadequate. They’re falling way behind on job load, they just can’t get it done, and they’re trying to deflect anything they can on us.”

McLaughlin said he knows of at least one case of so-called vandalism in New Hampshire that was, he said, the result of a temporary contract worker leaving a cross box open and exposed to the rain, damaging the components inside.

Nearly 2,000 FairPoint employees in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire who belong to two unions, the IBEW and the Communications Workers of America, went on strike at midnight Oct. 16 over an impasse in labor contract negotiations with the company.

The company has asked for $700 million in concessions, mostly by freezing pensions, eliminating health coverage for retirees and asking employees to contribute to health care premiums. In late August, the company claimed the parties had reached an impasse, a technical term in labor law that allows the company to impose its final proposal on the unions.

The unions have offered roughly $200 million in concessions, but say FairPoint has refused to negotiate. Since the beginning of August, the unions have filed six complaints with the National Labor Relations Board alleging the company has used unfair labor practices. Two were initially rejected and are under appeal. The other four, two of which are identical, are pending.

McLaughlin said the unions would not tolerate any acts of vandalism by its members.

“We live and work in these communities,” he said. “It’s our families and friends that we’re affecting with this, so we are not condoning any sabotage.”

He called on the company to release details about the alleged vandalism so that if there are legitimate cases by striking union members, they could be dealt with appropriately. If a striking union member is caught vandalizing company property, McLaughlin said it would reflect poorly on the unions and make them “look like thugs,” which he said would be unfortunate.

“Nobody should be stupid enough to do anything like that,” he said. “If someone is caught doing that, they’re putting themselves in a very bad position that we’re not going to support.”

The reports of vandalism come a week after the company accused union members of harassing contract workers the company has hired during the strike and other activities that interrupt service, and “union sympathizers” of launching a phone-jamming campaign against the company’s call centers.

The unions also denied any wrongdoing in those instances.

“We are peacefully protesting to keep good middle-class jobs in Maine,” said Jenn Nappi, assistant business manager of the IBEW local 2327 in Augusta.