Uttarpara, April 12: Citu, long known for shutting factories down, will use its organisational muscle to open one.

“We will launch a movement soon to reopen the factory,” said Santasree Chatterjee, president of the Citu-led union at Hindustan Motors’ Uttarpara plant, where the management declared a suspension of work on Wednesday after a month of crippling labour trouble.

But Chatterjee’s union doesn’t have the numbers. The 1500-1600 workers that his union commands can’t match up to the 2,700 that the Sangrami Shramik Karmachari Union (SSKU) controls. The factory has 45,00 workers and 500 managers.

The majority workers’ union has been on strike since March 13, but Citu has been resisting it. The SSKU wants 15 suspended workers back in service, salaries for two months released and an end to a six-year DA freeze. The salaries were paid last week, but the strike continued to force the company to accept other demands.

Today, as 1,000 slogan-shouting workers affiliated to SSKU, Intuc and other unions took out a procession in support of the strike, Chatterjee was speaking of ways in which the government could end the work suspension.

“We have taken up the matter with the government. We have asked it to begin talks with the management and organise an all-party meeting,” he said.

But SSKU president Amitava Bhattacharya seemed miles away from truce. “The suspension of work proved that our agitation has been successful. It is our moral victory,” he said, as a huge police contingent led by Hooghly additional superintendent Asit Pal stood on guard.