Maruti Suzuki India, the country's biggest car maker by sales, today sacked 11 striking workers at its Manesar facility in Haryana, one of its key production units.

A flash strike by a section of the workers on Saturday had crippled production at the plant.

"The services of 11 persons, who were inciting workers to go on an illegal strike and created an atmosphere where the safety of people was in danger, have been terminated," PTYI quoted Maruti chairman R C Bhargava as saying.

He said the workers had gone on strike without any notice, but added that the management is continuing its dialogue with the striking workers.

Around 2,000 workers went on strike from the second shift on Saturday, demanding the recognition of a new union, the 'Maruti Suzuki Employees Union'; as well as retaining contract labourers for two new units coming up inside the complex.

This halted production at the Manesar plant, which makes about 1,200 vehicles a day.

"We are still trying to understand what their grievance is ... we have had no discussions with them on this subject ever," Bhargava told a TV channel on Sunday.

Refusing to accept the workers' demand, Bhargava said: "It's all the more surprising, coming one month ahead of the elections. "There is no other union (apart from the recognised one) ... if they have any issue, they should have at first written to us and discussed it."

He, however, said the company is hopeful of finding an amicable solution soon.

The sacked employees include eight office bearers of the newly formed union, besides three other workers. The new union is demanding that no action be taken against them. It says it will resist any attempt to remove these 11 people from the factory premises.

The workers said the company currently has one union, Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union, which is dominated by those working at the Gurgaon facility near Delhi.

The last time the company witnessed a major strike was when workers stopped production for three months from November 2000 to January 2001.