A total of 250 workers of an electronics company in Kedah were dismissed for allegedly organising an illegal strike to demand their "overdue" salaries.

The workers, who are members of the Electrical Industries Workers Union (EIWU), received their termination letters today from the management of Dai-Ichi Electronics (M) Sdn Bhd, after five days of domestic inquiry.

According to EIWU general secretary Maniyam Poovan, the workers staged a protest because Dai-Ichi, a Japanese manufacturer of radio speakers, were habitually late in paying out salaries.

"This time, since their salary cut-off date was Dec 25, the workers went to see the management on Jan 1, asking why they were not paid their salaries yet, " he said when contacted today.

"But the chief executive officer of the company met them in the office and told them they could go home if they were not willing to work, so they left," he added.

According to Maniyam, the workers were locked out of the company on Jan 5, a Monday and a working day. They were prevented from going into the premises.

The management of Dai-Ichi, which employs about 350 workers, was unavailable for comment. When contacted, its executive director Tai Lee Kiow told malaysiakini she was at a meeting and could not speak to reporters about the matter.

The Kedah Labour department was also unavailable for comment.

Complaints to dept

Meanwhile, EIWU industrial relations officer N Balakrishnan claimed the workers were upset about their late salary pay-out that they "sat at their work stations and refused to work until they were paid".

"This problem (late payment of salaries) has been recurring since 2002. We have made several complaints to the Labour Department but there had been no improvement despite warnings issued by the department," he added.

It is learnt that the workers were planning a picket outside the factory tomorrow to protest against their 'unfair dismissal'.

They could employ Section 20 of the 1967 Industrial Relations Act to challenge the company's action in terminating their services.

Among others, Section 20 states where a worker, irrespective of whether he is a member of trade union of workmen or otherwise, considers that he has been dismissed without just cause or excuse by his employer, he may make representations in writing to the Director-General to be reinstated in his (or her) former employment.