Production at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant continued to be at a standstill as talks among the management, workers and the Haryana Labour Department failed to make any headway. The strike entered its 10th day on Monday.

Maruti sources said the management has agreed to the formation of a new union sans affiliation, but the bone of contention was the workers' demand to re-instate 11 sacked employees.

However, union sources said the company had gone back on its stand on recognising another union in the plant.

Meanwhile, all the 2,000 workers on strike are still camping inside the factory premises.

“It is a case of trespassing and gross misconduct,” said a senior labour consultant, referring to workers inside the factory for the last 10 days.

“The morale is high. These are all young, skilled pass-outs from Industrial Training Institutes. All they want is to be treated with dignity,” said Mr Amarjeet Kaur, National Secretary, AITUC.

Meanwhile, unions of 45-50 factories in the Gurgaon-Manesar belt held gate meetings to express solidarity with their striking colleagues in Maruti. They plan to hold a two-hour tool-down strike on Tuesday.

By the end of Monday, Maruti Suzuki is expected to have lost production of 8,600 cars and revenue of almost Rs 300 crore. The company's shares have fallen 0.5 per cent in the last 10 days, closing at Rs 1,227.6 apiece on Monday.

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