Rally to protest Wal-Mart worker's stampede death (today)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-listam1221,0,508004.story

BY MATTHEW CHAYES | [e-mail]
3:03 PM EST, December 20, 2008

An immigration activist group plans to rally Sunday at the Green Acres Wal-Mart where a seasonal worker was trampled to death by bargain hunters who crushed through the doors on Black Friday.

The protest and vigil to honor slain worker Jdimytai Damour, 34, is the latest pressure being put on the Bentonville, Ark.-based discount retailer for the way it planned -- or didn't adequately plan -- security at its Valley Stream store last month, when more than 2,000 people pushed their way into the store, breaking down the sliding locked doors and stepping on, over and around Damour, a tall, large man who lived in Queens.

"Tis the Season to Put Workers' Lives & Health Before Profits," the activist group said in a flier advertising the event, to be held at noon Sunday at the mall entrance at Sunrise Highway and Green Acres Road.

A spokeswoman for the group said picketers plan to go to the store where Damour died Nov. 28. Almost immediately after the death, the state's largest supermarket union, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, called for state, federal and local investigations, saying the incident that led to Damour's death was "avoidable and irresponsible."

Wal-Mart has strenuously resisted unionization at its stores.

The Nassau County Police have repeatedly blamed Wal-Mart for the Black Friday melee, and the county legislature is considering regulating door-buster sales.

FULL story and video at link.