Extreme? Yes, read on.
Fired Paraguayan bus drivers have themselves nailed to crosses
ASUNCION (Reuters) - Eight Paraguayan bus drivers have had themselves nailed to crosses to protest being fired by a transportation company after it rejected their plea for higher pay, a lawmaker said on Friday.
The drivers, from the northern town of Luque, are on their backs, nailed to wooden crosses laid out on the ground. Large nails pierce their hands at the base of the fingers.
They said they took the action in a desperate bid to be heard.
They have been nailed down for 15 days, according to Olga Ferreira de Lopez, a member of Paraguay's House of Congress who is monitoring the situation.
"There have been infections ... . Their state of health is getting complicated," she told Reuters.
Some of the drivers' wives are taking turns being nailed to crosses alongside their husbands.
"I'm joining today. Tomorrow it will be another mother and the following day it could be another because we have to defend our rights," one of the wives told reporters at the scene.
"I'd like to make a special call to the president to please come see the inhumane situation we are going through," she said.
The transportation company has promised to rehire five of them and help the remaining three find work. But the protesters say they will not stop until they all get their jobs back.
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Now, don't get me wrong, I can sympathize with how difficult it must be for these guys to survive on their wages. I don't specifically know what they are, admittedly, but I have a sneaking suspicion that when they complain about how difficult things are there it pretty much makes those of us who complain about how difficult things are here look like the whiny spoiled children that we really are.
But nailing themselves to crosses? Really? I suppose one should give some kind of allowance for desperation, people who feel desperate do desperate things. Arguably they would not be taking this action unless they felt bottom of the barrel, no hope left, desperate. And then I read this line purportedly said by one of the driver's wives.
So is it a case of holding their breath until they turn blue to force another to give them what they want (whether it's right, justified, honourable for them to have it is besides the point) or is this a legitimate means, albeit a dangerous one, of drawing attention to a plight?
Fired Paraguayan bus drivers have themselves nailed to crosses
ASUNCION (Reuters) - Eight Paraguayan bus drivers have had themselves nailed to crosses to protest being fired by a transportation company after it rejected their plea for higher pay, a lawmaker said on Friday.
The drivers, from the northern town of Luque, are on their backs, nailed to wooden crosses laid out on the ground. Large nails pierce their hands at the base of the fingers.
They said they took the action in a desperate bid to be heard.
They have been nailed down for 15 days, according to Olga Ferreira de Lopez, a member of Paraguay's House of Congress who is monitoring the situation.
"There have been infections ... . Their state of health is getting complicated," she told Reuters.
Some of the drivers' wives are taking turns being nailed to crosses alongside their husbands.
"I'm joining today. Tomorrow it will be another mother and the following day it could be another because we have to defend our rights," one of the wives told reporters at the scene.
"I'd like to make a special call to the president to please come see the inhumane situation we are going through," she said.
The transportation company has promised to rehire five of them and help the remaining three find work. But the protesters say they will not stop until they all get their jobs back.
Yahoo! News Canada - Latest News & Headlines
Now, don't get me wrong, I can sympathize with how difficult it must be for these guys to survive on their wages. I don't specifically know what they are, admittedly, but I have a sneaking suspicion that when they complain about how difficult things are there it pretty much makes those of us who complain about how difficult things are here look like the whiny spoiled children that we really are.
But nailing themselves to crosses? Really? I suppose one should give some kind of allowance for desperation, people who feel desperate do desperate things. Arguably they would not be taking this action unless they felt bottom of the barrel, no hope left, desperate. And then I read this line purportedly said by one of the driver's wives.
The inhumane situation. That they've chosen to put themselves in. I mean, were they even fired? Or did they issue an ultimatum and saw that rejected? Seems like the former employer is willing to hire them back, at least some of them, at what rate of pay I don't know though, and is willing to assist the remaining men find other employment. So that kind of makes me think they are perhaps not the cold calculating evil big bad here.
So is it a case of holding their breath until they turn blue to force another to give them what they want (whether it's right, justified, honourable for them to have it is besides the point) or is this a legitimate means, albeit a dangerous one, of drawing attention to a plight?
