Police in the Swabi District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, are said to have arrested 35 former employees of Philip Morris (Pakistan) on the grounds of maintaining public order, according to a story published in The Nation.
The district administration believed that the workers had threatened to kill themselves if the management of the company failed to re-engage them.
The president of the Mehnat Kash Union (MKU), Ibrarullah, was also arrested.
The workers began their protest soon after they received letters on November 23 and 24 advising them that they were to be sacked.
Attempts at negotiations have so far failed. The company is not willing to reinstate the sacked workers, who reject the package offered by the company.
According to the story, company managers said that firing the workers had been part of their retrenchment policy.
Immediately after the arrest of the workers MKU officials held a meeting and vowed to continue their protest at any cost.
They rejected the allegation that the workers had threatened to kill themselves in front of the company’s main gate, saying it was a pretext used by the district administration and the company to arrest the workers.