Durgapur, Nov. 10: The Citu leadership in Bankura today said it was planning a good-manners class for supporters, four days after some of them beat up two senior officials of a factory in Barjora.

Kinkar Prasad, the district secretary of the CPM’s labour arm, said: “We are planning to organise a workshop to train them about the dos and don’ts at factories. We feel embarrassed that our supporters have again come to the fore for violent trade unionism.”

Insiders said the assault of the general manager and deputy general manager of Rishabh Sponge Iron on Sunday has put the district Citu leadership under the scanner. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has over the years repeatedly asked the state Citu brass to give up the militant path.

Prasad admitted that his supporters often turned violent. “We have made it clear that they will have to change ways,” he said. “They must not forget that the factory is their bread and butter. If industries close down here, where will they go?”

Bankura has seven sponge iron factories and an equal number are in the pipeline with an investment prospect of about Rs 200 crore. “It is high time that workers are trained in how to deal with the management. Incidents of vandalism send a wrong message to investors,” said Amiya Patra, the district CPM secretary. “Workers might have grievances, but their ways of agitation and protest will have to be moderate.”

Five of those accused of thrashing the managers on Sunday have been arrested.