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If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
Jose Alberto Celis Gomez, a Veracruz Water and Sanitation Department employee, has had enough; after four long years of requesting promotion and being denied, he's decided to take the employee promotion ladder and give it a nudge, Mexican style.
Last month he used his earned vacation days for a hunger strike outside of the Water and Sanitation Deparment offices. Although his union leader, Angélica Navarrete, once again ignored him, he did gain sympathy from the media.
The director of Veracruz Water and Sanitation, Yolanda Gutierrez, stepped in to offer Celis Gomez an administrative posistion with much higher pay and benefits, but Celis Gomez refused the offer as administrative workers are not recogonized within his Water and Sanitation laborers Union.
Upon returning to work on February 27, he used his new media buddies to give Navarrete an ultimatum: You have until 9:00 a.m., Monday, March 2 to de promote me or I will sew my mouth shut in protest.
Apparently Ms. Angelica is not only a union leader, but a tough cookie as well. Upon hearing the threats, she did not give Celis Gomez the promotion he'd been demanding, but instead leaked through the Union vines a subtle response:"Bring it on."
And so he did. Monday morning, March 2nd, Celis Gomez came to work with a mirror, surgical thread, topical anesthetic and sewing needles. After rounding up the Veracruz Media Hounds and donning surgical gloves (Hey, all union workers believe in safety first. Rules are rules, on the job and in mouth sewing protests)he gave his last words to the press and a final ultimatum to Nasty Naverrete:
"Angelica Naverrete is responsible for anything that happens to me. I have been forced to these extremes, I will not back down, I have a family to support. If I do not have response of my desired promotion within one week from today, I will set myself on fire here, at 5:00 p.m., in front of SAS, for all to see."
With that he, lifted a tank of gas for the press, and with te help of a coworker holding a mirror, proceeded to sew his mouth shut with five stitches. When finished, he communicated with a note that he will continue work as usual until next Monday, stitches and all. Now that's dedication.
It seems as if Union leader, Angelica Naverrete, found Celis Gomez's mouth sewing stunt boring at best. She remained unimpressed and undeterred when giving this statement:
The man is crazy, he is mentally unstable. He has always been problematic, that is why he was never promoted. Still, even with his mental issues, we offered to promote him to administration with better pay and benefits, he refused."
Looks like we've got a Mexican Standoff. Come Monday at 5:00 p.m we'll see what happens. Will Celis Gomez's persistance pay off or will his dreams of being Union promoted Go up in flames?
