Calcutta, Nov. 25: Talks to resume production at Dunlop broke down today with the management insisting on a pay-cut agreement and the unions rejecting it.

The company had suspended production at the Sahagunj factory last week and offered Rs 2,000 a month to the workers until it restarted.

Intuc and Citu leaders met labour minister Mrinal Banerjee today while Dunlop chairman Pawan Ruia went to Subesh Das, principal secretary to the chief minister, at Writers’.

After the meeting, Intuc’s Pramathes Sen said: “The management has offered Rs 2,000 a month till March 31, 2009, when the company plans to resume work. But we don’t trust the management on that.”

“Early retirement schemes (ERS) for 583 workers will have to be implemented and the October salary cleared. Production has to re-start. We want the government to call a tripartite meeting and be a party to the agreement that the Ruias want us to sign,” he added.

Citu’s Dipankar Roy spoke in the same voice.

Ruia said the first step towards resumption of production would be the agreement. “There was an understanding between the unions and the management on the agreement… now they want to re-work it. The negotiations can be never-ending and… that would seriously hamper our effort to bring in funds.”

ERS payments, he said, “should not be mixed with the agreement”.

The company has approached the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation for working capital and a term loan of Rs 115 crore. “Even if the WBIDC loan is not available, production will be resumed at Dunlop…. If the agreement is signed, we will tap banks for loans,” Ruia said.

On apprehensions about the resumption of work, he said: “It is part of the agreement that the plant will be opened latest by March 31.”

The Dunlop chairman had met the labour minister yesterday. A possible meeting today did not take place as “the company had nothing new to offer for a solution”, a labour department official said.

Although the unions want the government to be party to any deal, that might be difficult as the industrial disputes act bars such intervention unless workers are laid off or the plant is shut down.