The tragic story of Jdimytai Damour, a Wal-Mart worker originally from Jamaica, will stay with you forever.

It has been all over the news. Damour was trampled to death while shielding a pregnant shopper from a Black Friday stampede at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, NY. When we heard the news about Jdimytai, we were utterly shocked. Even today, we can't believe Wal-Mart let this happen.

At Jdimytai's Wal-Mart, lack of preparation and aggressive marketing turned Black Friday into a crowd-control nightmare. Early that morning, a throng of 2,000 shoppers swarmed at the store's front entrance. They grew agitated. Though Jdimytai Damour was given no crowd control training, though he had no security experience whatsoever, management put him in front of the surging crowd of shoppers just before the doors opened. Not long after, he was pronounced dead.

The Damour family lost a son. We could never hope to fill that void in their lives, but we can help them fight for justice in the courts and for change at Wal-Mart. We are dedicating this year's Holiday Worker Fund to the Damour family's legal expenses, but it's still not enough. YOU can change that.

The Damour family deserves justice: help us reach our goal of 150 new donations before the New Year

Several people were injured in that early morning crush, but none fared worse than Jdimytai. Now, the only support for the Damours will come from family and activists like you. They are relying on us.

Donating helps, but it isn't everything. The Damour family also needs your moral support. You can use our website to send the Damours some words of encouragement and consolation. It will take only a few seconds (longer if you like) to help Jdimytai's family take heart in the coming New Year.

Please show your support for the Damour family by writing a few words of encouragement.

The tragedy in Valley Stream demands change. Show your support for the Damour family and let Wal-Mart know America won't stand for irresponsible retailing.

It's time for Wal-Mart to put safety before sales.

Thank you for all that you do, and happy holidays and a safe New Year to you and your loved ones.

The Team,
WakeUpWalMart.com

Wal-Mart has once again demonstrated its true talent of earning really really bad PR. They just seem to thrive at it. And when a family called to get a Birthday cake made with their son's name on it, they once again stepped up. What is so bad about making a Birthday cake? Well if the child's name happens to be Adolf Hitler and his family happens to be holocaust deniers, it is, at the very least, bad PR, and we think pretty offensive to boot. What makes it worse is that other stores in the area had the good sense to say no to the family and that Wal-Mart has made this particular cake three years running.

And we can't forget that this isn't Wal-Mart's first run in with the Nazi issue. There was the tee shirt that Wal-Mart sold with a Nazi logo on it, which they subsequently failed to pull from shelves. There was an ad they bankrolled which went after a community group who did not want Wal-Mart to build in their town by using Nazi imagery. There was the book they sold, called The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion which "recounts" as fact a plot by Jewish citizens to take over the world. It has been widely discredited as a fraud but was nonetheless used by Nazi propagandists. Wal-Mart's description of the book apparently did not indicate that it was, unambiguously a made up, antisemitic book.

The story is, deservedly, getting a lot of play. Most are simply bemused all around. Here's what Keith Olberman had to say last night:

We've just released our final ad of our Holiday Campaign. You can watch it here:

If you like what we're doing, help spread the word by digging the ad!

Here's our press release:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 17, 2008

Pastor Calls on Wal-Mart to Be a Better Neighbor in New TV Ad

Ad Will Run in Conjunction with More Than Forty Candlelight Vigils Across the Country, Calling on Wal-Mart to Do Better by Our Families

Washington, DC � WakeUpWalMart.com, America�s campaign to change Wal-Mart with more than 436,000 members nationwide, today announced a new national television ad featuring a prominent Baptist minister. In the ad, Reverend Kyle Childress reminds us that the holiday season is a time for caring for everyone.

The ad is the third in a series of television and radio spots that have run in 19 markets across the country, as part of the fourth annual �Hope for the Holidays� campaign. The nationwide campaign featured television and radio ads, direct mail and more than 100 actions including fundraising drives for Wal-Mart employees and candlelight vigils.

�At Christmas time, we�re reminded we all have a responsibility to care for our neighbors. But it seems like too many CEOs and corporations have forgotten that,� says Reverend Kyle Childress in the ad. �This Christmas let�s remind Wal-Mart �some values are more important than the ones you find on store shelves.� (Full script below).

The ad, called �Christmas Values,� goes up today across the country. To reinforce the ad�s message, community and religious leaders in more than 40 cities and towns will hold candlelight vigils outside of Wal-Mart stores. They will offer prayers and light candles on behalf of 2 million Wal-Mart employees, including Jdimytai Damour, a Wal-Mart employee who was killed in a Black Friday rampage, and their families in the hope that Wal-Mart will see the light and finally change into a more responsible employer.

The ad can be viewed at http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/holiday2008/

�CHRISTMAS VALUES� AD SCRIPT

At Christmas time, we�re reminded we all have a responsibility to care for our neighbors.
But it seems like too many CEOs and corporations have forgotten that.
When Wal-Mart mistreats its employees and denies them affordable health coverage, it says a lot about their values.
When one point six million women have to sue Wal-Mart to get paid the same as men, it says even more.
This Christmas let�s remind Wal-Mart �some values are more important than the ones you find on store shelves.
REVEREND KYLE CHILDRESS BIO
Rev. Kyle Childress has served as the pastor of Austin Heights Baptist Church, Nacogdoches, Texas for nineteen years. Working across racial lines for reconciliation, he is active in both the local ministerial associations, one predominately African-American and the other predominately Anglo. Long active in a variety of community services, he was the founding president of the Nacogdoches Habitat for Humanity and was on the founding board of what was then called the East Texas AIDS Project (now Health Horizons). Rev. Childress is married to Jane who teaches English in nearby Stephen F. Austin State University. They have two daughters: Emily, a freshman in college, and Callie, a sophomore in high school.

So as you guys know, Wake Up Wal-Mart is in the midst of our Holiday Campaign. We've been highlighting Wal-Mart employees, collecting money, handing out fliers, and, this week, we're holding candlelight vigils all across the country. Starting today we've got more than 65 candlelight vigils in front of Wal-Mart stores everywhere from Philadelphia to Detroit to Framingham, Massachusetts to Grand Rapids, Minnesota to Tacoma, Washington.

At all of the actions local Wake Up Wal-Mart activists will light candles on behalf of the 2 million Wal-Mart employees in hopes that the company change its ways. Many of the vigils will also honor the memory of Jdimytai Damour, the Wal-Mart employee who was trampled to death on 'Black Friday' at a store in New York. In addition to activists and concerned citizens, local faith leaders will be speaking at many of the vigils, asking Wal-Mart to be a better neighbor this holiday season. Keep an eye out for a Vigil in your area.

Please support our efforts to change Wal-Mart for the better this Holiday Season by spreading the word and donating to our Holiday Campaign.

Because more than 70% of Wal-Mart's goods come from China, and because Wal-Mart cuts corners (or forces manufacturers to do so) to save money, they have been plagued with stories of unsafe products sold at their store. Most notably, lead has been an issue. It's been found in toys, Christmas lights, dinner plates, charm bracelets, even pet toys and more.

While there haven't been nearly as many news stories about it recently, Wal-Mart is still apparently selling lead tainted products. The Center for Environmental Health recently released a report and found that products from Wal-Mart and other retailers contained high levels of lead which is both dangerous and against the law. They report that

A surface coating on a WalMart store-brand green frog charm for a child�s necklace tested as high as 37% lead, more than 600 times over the standard set by the state law that was developed from CEH�s landmark January 2006 settlement with the jewelry industry. The surface coating has variable lead levels, with some pieces testing at more than three times the legal limit.

You can check out The Center for Environmental Justice's full report here.

While Wal-Mart's lavishly overpaid executives can afford to spend the holidays at ease, the average Wal-Mart worker will scrape by on poverty-level wages. Each week between now and the new year, we'll highlight this inequity by featuring stories from the regular folks who work in the aisles of Wal-Mart.

Why must we change Wal-Mart? Just read on.

Week 3: Charmaine's Story

Charmaine Givens works at a Chicago Wal-Mart, staffing the front desk of its Tire & Lube Express. After 3 years of work, she makes only $9.45 an hour. Imagine, it would take Charmaine 1,000 years to match what Wal-Mart's CEO Lee Scott earned last year. So much for competitive wages.

With such low pay, Charmaine is unable to pay for a WMT health insurance plan: it is simply too expensive. So, aside from earning a miniscule wage, she is exposed to a potentially crippling financial burden should she ever become sick or injured.

This week, we asked Charmaine what Wal-Mart could do to become a better employer. She wanted to remind Wal-Mart that "All their profits are earned off the hard work of WMT associates." She also stressed that, this holiday season, "Wal-Mart must treat its employees like human beings. I want to feel like I matter to Wal-Mart."

There is only one thing more disheartening than Charmaine's story: the fact that the vast majority of Wal-Mart employees we speak to share stories alarmingly similar to the ones on this page.

Help us end the cycle. Take a stand against Wal-Mart's systematic mistreatment of its employees. Help us grow our holiday fund today. It's easy, it's fast, and it will make a real difference to real Wal-Mart workers.

The Saskatchewan Labor Relations Board has just ruled that workers at a Wal-Mart store will be allowed to be represented by a union, specifically the United Food and Commercial Workers union. This comes after years of legal battles between Wal-Mart and the union.

And now the Mayor of Weyburn, where the store is located, is worried that the Wal-Mart store will close down. It's understandable. A lot of communities don't have a whole lot of options for shopping, and there's a decent chance the town offered Wal-Mart tax waivers or building incentives to move in. And of course Wal-Mart has a history of shutting down stores when their workers unionize. Wal-Mart would much rather shut down, abandoning a community and their employees, than negotiate and listen to input from their workers.

Wal-Mart has pledged to appeal the ruling of the Labor Relations Board on the grounds that new labor laws have come in to effect and that most of the workers who voted for a union are now gone. Of course, Wal-Mart was the one who dragged the whole process out for 4 years, so those reasons seem pretty bogus.

We're taking bets on the likelihood the store closes down. Leave your bet in the comments.

Here's the article from CBA:

Sask. mayor worried Wal-Mart will close unionized store The mayor of a southeastern Saskatchewan community is worried the area's biggest retailer could close, following a decision by the province�s labour board allowing employees to unionize.

In a 71-page decision dated Dec. 4, the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board approved a request to certify the Wal-Mart in Weyburn. All employees, except pharmacy, office staff and department managers, are affected.

Wal-Mart was criticized after it closed a store shortly after employees unionized in Jonqui�re, Que., in 2005, a move the company continues to blame on poor performance by the store.

Now, concerns are being raised about the future of the outlet in Weyburn, a city with a population of about 9,400.

�We're very concerned about losing a major retailer in our community,� Weyburn Mayor Debra Button said. �We worked too hard to get the Wal-Mart here � If the decision by Wal-Mart is to close the store, we'll certainly be feeling that.�

Both Button and Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Dustin Duncan said they have received phone calls from residents worried about the future of the store. Button said she has written the CEO of Wal-Mart Canada to ask about the company�s intentions.

Wal-Mart Canada said it will appeal the ruling to unionize, pointing out that many of the employees who signed union cards no longer work at the Weyburn store.

�The fact that you�ve got a store now with 104 associates � and only 29 of them were even there at the time of the union�s application, really speaks to the fact that it would be a bit of a stretch to assume that there is widespread support for that store for this union,� said Andrew Pelletier, spokesman for Wal-Mart Canada.

Changes to Saskatchewan�s Trade Union Act this year made it a requirement that a secret ballot vote be held, open to all employees in the proposed bargaining unit, before a union can be certified.

Paul Meneima, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1400, said the decision to unionize the Weyburn store fits with the pre-2008 act, which allowed for union certifications when 50 per cent of employees, plus one, signed union cards.

Meneima stressed that the majority of employees wanted the union at the time of the application, but said workers have the right to seek decertification of the union if they wish. He said he expects Wal-Mart to delay negotiations of a collective agreement using the courts as long as possible.

The UFCW and Wal-Mart have been trying to negotiate a collective agreement in Ste-Hyacinthe, Que., Canada�s only other unionized Wal-Mart, for almost four years.

The decision to unionize the Weyburn Wal-Mart came after almost five years of legal wrangling. The UFCW applied for certification on April 14, 2004. During labour board hearings, some employees made claims that the union intimidated them into signing union cards. The board dismissed those claims, saying there was no evidence.

Anthony Bianco, a writer for Business Week and author of The Bully of Bentonville: How the High Cost of Everyday Low Prices is Hurting America, said the unionization of the Weyburn store has significance, not only for Canada, but also for North America.

�Wal-Mart has always offered stiff resistance to any attempts to organize,� said Bianco, pointing out that the UFCW �basically gave up trying to organize in the United States in 2003.�

Bianco said Wal-Mart is worried that by having a store with union members, it will �entice� other workers across North America to organize.

�There�s no doubt that Wal-Mart recognizes that, and that�s why they fight so hard to thwart the efforts of their employees to get a union,� said Meinema.

The UFCW is awaiting labour board decisions to unionize Wal-Mart stores in the Saskatchewan communities of North Battleford and Moose Jaw.

The Public Safety Committee of the Nassau County Legislature is holding a hearing into what exactly happened at the local Wal-Mart on 'Black Friday' when a temporary employee was trampled to death after a crowd of around 2,000 customers broke the door and rushed in to the store. The chairman of the committee said the hearing was an attempt to find out what happened in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

A major theme in the hearing was an insistence that Wal-Mart was responsible for crowd control at their own store, not the county or the police because the store is private property.

Here's the article from newsday:

Cop: Customer safety 'onus' on retailers

Stores, not the police, are responsible for protecting customers when large crowds form, as happened on Black Friday in Valley Stream when a security guard was trampled to death by a surging mob of shoppers, Nassau County officials testified Wednesday.

"These types of situations in the box stores and these door-buster type sales, the onus or responsibility for the security and the safety of the customers falls with the retail establishment," Nassau County Police Insp. Thomas Krumpter told members of the Public Safety Committee of the Nassau County Legislature.

The county's commissioner of emergency management, James Callahan, sounded a similar theme, testifying that, "being on private property, it really is the responsibility of the stores themselves."

Legis. Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin), chairman of the committee, said prior to the hearing that he hoped to, "shine a light on what happened so we can prevent it from happening in the future."

However, Scannell and Legis. John Ciotti (R-North Valley Stream) said they would be careful in their questioning of witnesses because of possible lawsuits against the county and the police.

Krumpter, the department's liaison to the legislature, told the committee that he would not testify about details of the incident, in which a store security guard was killed and five other people injured in the stampede on the day after Thanksgiving.

None of the committee members asked questions about what happened that day.

Scannell said during a break in the hearing that he was "attempting to strike a balance" between the county's potential liability in a lawsuit and the need for legislation.

After the meeting, he said staff lawyers were drawing up legislation, to be introduced in January, that would require stores to erect barriers a distance from the front doors when large crowds form. He said the would require stores to file crowd control plans with the Police Department.

Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey has scheduled a meeting with Wal-Mart and officials of other stores next week to discuss crowd control, Krumpter said.

Wal-Mart was invited to testify, according to Scannell, and instead sent Ted Potrikus of the Retail Council of New York State, which has about 5,000 members, including Wal-Mart.

Potrikus said his group generally opposed local regulations on retailers, and he expected the Wal-Mart death would come in the next session of the state legislature.

Today Wal-Mart settled a lawsuit in Minnesota. It was just one of more than 72 wage and hour class action suits against Wal-Mart across the country. Wal-Mart has agreed to pay up to $54.25 million to workers and the state. They're paying the workers because they cheated them out of overtime pay, lunch breaks, and otherwise failed to pay them what they were owed. They're paying the state because they broke the law, a lot.

This isn't the first time Wal-Mart has paid for this transgression, nor will it be the last. Wal-Mart needs to keep paying until every employee they wronged to eke a little more profit out of them is paid back.

You can read the full story here.

And you can read our official statement:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 9, 2008

IT TAKES A COURT RULING FOR WAL-MART TO PAY EMPLOYEES FAIRLY

Today Wal-Mart agreed to pay up to $54.25 million to settle a Minnesota class action lawsuit, Braun et al. v. Wal-Mart, Inc. et al. The suit, one of many across the country over wage and hour labor violations, sought payment for around 100,000 current and former Wal-Mart employees.

�In such a tumultuous economy, the basic ideas of fair pay for honest work should be fundamental,� said Meghan Scott, spokesperson for WakeUpWalMart.com, �It shouldn't take a court of a law to force America's largest corporation to pay their employees fairly. And it shouldn�t take a court of law to force America�s largest corporation to live by America's values. Wal-Mart workers should be able to go to the corporate office with issues like this, not be forced into the court system.

�To make matters worse, this case in Minnesota is just the tip of the iceberg. America�s largest private employer is currently involved in at least 72 wage and hour class action suits across the country. For years Wal-Mart systematically underpaid and overworked its employees to line its own pockets. While this one case represents a victory for those workers, it is certainly too little too late. It should never have come to this point.

�In this time of economic turmoil, hopefully Wal-Mart will learn to stand up for workers, rather than against them in courts across the country. Unfortunately, this is a company that we have seen time and again putting profits ahead of people.�

Wake Up Wal-Mart is officially kicking off our Holiday campaign. Stay tuned throughout December for new ads, actions in front of stores, our worker highlight stories, and more! It's going to be busy for us. If you'd like to get involved in telling Wal-Mart to treat its employees better, send us an e-mail or give us a call. We'd love to see you at a local action or have help spreading the word online and in person!

Here's our press release:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WAKEUPWALMART.COM LAUNCHES MONTH-LONG HOLIDAY CAMPAIGN TO HIGHLIGHT WAL-MART�S ANTI AMERICAN AND ANTI-WORKER POLICIES

Two New TV Ads To Start Across the Country Thursday December 4th

During These Tough Times, Wal-Mart Needs To Put America�s Economy Ahead of China�s

Washington, DC - WakeUpWalMart.com and its 435,000 members, today launched a month-long holiday campaign to highlight Wal-Mart�s anti-worker/anti-American policies. The million dollar campaign will run throughout December and include national television advertising, local media and mail and more than 100 actions ranging from holiday drives for Wal-Mart employees to candlelight vigils outside of key Wal-Mart stores.

WakeUpWalMart.com�s campaign to highlight Wal-Mart�s anti worker policies comes on the heels of a tragic fatal accident that took the life of a Wal-Mart employee in New York on Black Friday. The goal of the campaign is to challenge Wal-Mart, the world�s largest retailer and America�s largest private employer, to do their part to help America�s economy get back on track by doing more for their workers and doing less to help the Chinese economy. Wal-Mart current imports more than 70% of their good from China.

�While Wal-Mart is making record profits ($3.03 billion dollars in the 3rd quarter alone), Wal-Mart workers are struggling to keep their heads above water because of poverty-level wages, unaffordable healthcare, poor treatment, and cuts in hours,� said Meghan Scott, Director of WakeUpWalmart.com. �Our �Hope for the Holidays� campaign is designed to highlight the plight of hundreds of thousands of Wal-Mart employees who are struggling to get by while their employer is shipping millions of dollars overseas this holiday. We will be asking Wal-Mart shoppers to help us send a message to Wal-Mart to put American workers first this holiday season.�

WakeupWalMart.com members will call on Wal-Mart to pay fair wages to its employees, provide affordable healthcare, and do more to ensure the safety of their workers and their products. The campaign will begin with two national ads that will start airing in key markets Thursday December 4th. WakeUpWalMart.Com will announce new activities each week in December.

The two ads �Hidden Costs� and �Thinking of shopping at Wal-Mart� will air in targeted markets across the country and can be viewed at http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/holiday2008/

TV AD SCRIPT: �HIDDEN COSTS�

Have you added up all the hidden
costs behind Wal-Mart�s prices?

The one-point-eight billion dollars taxpayers shell out for health care because Wal-Mart doesn�t cover half its employees.

The lost wages of one-point-six-million women who had to take Wal-Mart to court to get paid the same as men.

Countless manufacturing jobs lost while America�s largest corporation became America�s biggest importer of Chinese goods.

Behind Wal-Mart�s profits, the middle-class pays the price.

America can�t afford it any longer.

TV AD SCRIPT: �THINKING OF SHOPPING AT WAL-MART�

If you�re thinking of shopping at Wal-Mart this holiday season,

There�s a 70% chance the gifts you buy come from Communist China.

America�s largest corporation stocks its shelves with products made

In Chinese factories.

While more and more American factories are forced to shut down.

Behind those prices Wal-Mart likes to brag about:

countless American jobs lost overseas.

In this race to the bottom,

Wal-Mart gets ahead, and the middleclass gets left behind.

America can�t afford it any longer.
###

The family of the victim of the 'Black Friday' stampede is going to sue Wal-Mart, Nassau County and the county's police department. Here's the article from The Associated Press:

Victim's kin file suit in Wal-Mart stampede death

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) � The family of a New York man who was trampled to death the day after Thanksgiving by a stampede of bargain hunting Wal-Mart shoppers has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

The family also filed notice that Nassau County, on Long Island, and its police department will be sued.

The lawsuit against Wal-Mart and the Long Island mall where it is located was filed Wednesday in state Supreme Court in the Bronx on behalf of Elsie Damour Phillipe. Phillipe is the sister of victim Jdimytai Damour (DHMEE'-tree Di-MOHR'), and is the court-appointed administrator of his estate.

Damour, a temporary worker hired for the holiday season, was crushed to death when some 2,000 customers stormed into the Valley Stream store.

None of the defendants in the lawsuit immediately responded to requests for comment.

Wal-Mart often comes up against opposition when it tries to move in to town. Local residents and activists rightfully fear Wal-Mart will make their community less safe, less economically sound, and crowded with traffic. But recently, there's been a site fight with a whole different spin: historic preservation. It seems Wal-Mart wants to build a store on a Civil War battlefield. Now historians are throwing their hats in the ring to fight Wal-Mart too.

The Civil War Preservation Trust and Friends of Wilderness Battlefield are opposing the store at this sight. Here's what Friends of Wilderness Battlefield spokesman Craig Rains had to say about the site in an interview with the Orange County Review:

"I just think it�s absolutely the worst place to put it is on the battlefield."

Instead, Rains suggested alternative locations could protect the Wilderness Battlefield area, while better serving the county with no negative aspects for the Wal-Mart corporation.

"There are plenty of places for them to move we think they�re creating the wrong environment at the battlefield," Rains said.
Two possible substitute sites could be at the intersection of Routes 20 and 611 in Locust Grove, or further down Route 3 on an area behind the Bloom grocery store. Suitable existing traffic patterns, and site plans are already in place at both locations. And, he added, engineering improvements to traffic at a Locust Grove location, or at an intersection nearer to Lake of the Woods would be far simpler than trying to improve travelways at routes 3 and 20.
"We�d like to see them get away from this intersection [routes 3 and 20] and move down the road," he said. "If they would move it up here to LOW and put it behind the Bloom there�s already a traffic light there."

The Civil War Preservation Trust has set up an action page where you can let county supervisors know what you think and donate to their fund to stop Wal-Mart from marring a piece of our history. Go check it out and help them keep Wal-Mart off a Civil War Battlefield.

This year for our annual Holiday campaign, Wake Up Wal-Mart is highlighting a different Wal-Mart employee every week. This week, we're highlighting Cynthia Murray. Here's her story:

Cynthia Murray is a 9 year veteran at Wal-Mart. As a fitting room associate in Laurel, Maryland, Cynthia has won numerous awards for her job performance. This is her story.

Injured in a car accident several years ago, Cynthia is partially disabled and cannot stand for extended periods. When Wal-Mart first hired Cynthia, management acknowledged her disability and placed her in the clothing department's fitting rooms, where she can sit and answer phones. Wal-Mart later requested that Cynthia provide proof of her injury, claiming it had no record of it, all despite management's prior knowledge of her disability. Later, Wal-Mart had the gall to claim that, without documentation, it would "have" to take her chair away.

Given proper medical care, Cynthia might have recovered from her injuries. However, after 9 years at Wal-Mart, she still cannot afford the company's health insurance. With her hourly wages of $10.80 an hour, Wal-Mart's high premiums are simply out of reach.

If you are outraged by Wal-Mart's treatment of Cynthia Murray, you're not alone. But, don't just get mad, take action! Help us benefit workers like Cynthia by contributing to our Wal-Mart Workers' Holiday Fund.

Can't donate? You can still fight for fair treatment for Wal-Mart workers. Help us spread the word by sending a link to your friends and family.

Remember, together we can give Wal-Mart workers a remarkable gift for the holidays: a more responsible employer.

'Black Friday' has truly lived up to its name this year. Reports of injury are still coming in five days later. It's no mystery why, either: crowds of thousands mobbed their local stores seeking out holiday bargains, and in the uncontrolled crowds and the rush to get to those five remaining big screen TVs and video games, people got hurt. Sadly, this year, people died too.

Mr. Jdimytai Damour, a temporary holiday employee at Wal-Mart was one of a few employees who tried to hold back an unruly mob that had waited for hours for the store to open at 5 am. When the doors shattered from the pressure of the crowd, people rushed in without any thought to the workers trying to control them. Mr. Damour and a few other workers were thrown to the ground in the stampede. While some of his coworkers tried to reach him to help, people continued to rush in to the store, crushing Mr. Damour. His injuries were fatal.

We are simply appalled by this story. Appalled that there wasn't more security at the store. Appalled at Wal-Mart for not doing more to stop this. Appalled that the cops seemed to have left right before the opening despite a seemingly uncontrolled crowd. Appalled that the customers broke down the door. Appalled that people could continue shopping after having so callously stampeding over Wal-Mart employees, and that our consumerist culture has encouraged something like this to happen. Appalled that Mr. Damour's family has to suffer so during the holidays. Appalled that this could happen. This was preventable.

Bruce Both, President of a local union, was right when he said, "This incident was avoidable. Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?"

Here's our official statement on the tragic incident:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 2, 2008

STATEMENT FROM WAKEUPWALMART.COM ON THE TRAGIC DEATH OF JDIMYTAI DAMOUR

On November 29th, 2008 at a Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream, New York, Jdimytai Damour, a 34-year-old Wal-Mart worker, was killed in a crush of Black Friday shoppers.

The following statement is attributed to Meghan Scott, Spokesperson for WakeUpWalMart.com.

"While this is not the time for pointing fingers, it is critical that we examine what caused this tragedy, and how we prevent more families from suffering such a loss. It appears that Mr. Damour's senseless death resulted from Wal-Mart's negligence and need for huge sales on Black Friday.

"The retail giant had a responsibility to ensure its workers were safe, but instead, Wal-Mart once again placed profit ahead of people. This is an incredibly sad and extreme example of Wal-Mart's ongoing mistreatment of the people who work in the stores. From poverty-level wages to healthcare that is priced out of reach, to 1.6 million women forced to sue for equal pay, America's largest private employer continues to fail its workers at the holidays and throughout the year. Wal-Mart's low prices should not come at such a high cost to the people who work in the stores. Last Friday, Mr. Damour paid the ultimate price."

Unfortunately we have some very sad news to report: over the Thanksgiving break a Wal-Mart employee was knocked to the ground and trampled to death by thousands of shoppers rushing to get in to the store for sale items. We will have an official statement on this tragedy soon.

Here are some of the stories about the stampede and Mr. Damour's death:

Wal-Mart Worker Dies When Shoppers Break Down Doors [Fox News]

Wal-Mart Worker Dies After Shopper Stampede, NY Daily News Says [Bloomberg]

Wal-Mart worker dies in Black Friday stampede [Chicago Tribune]

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death [New York Times]

Wal-Mart employee dies on Black Friday after being knocked down by shoppers [Los Angeles Times]

Wal-Mart worker dies after shoppers knock him down [Associated Press]

Surging shoppers kill New York Wal-Mart worker [Reuters]

Wal-Mart worker dies in rush; two killed at toy store [CNN]

Black Friday stampede kills Wal-Mart worker [Seattle Post Intelligence]

Deadly Black Friday: One at Wal-Mart, Two at Toys 'R' Us [Blogging Stocks]

Escaping Wal-Mart hordes in Rockridge [San Francisco Chronicle]

Friends: Wal-Mart victim was easygoing, helpful [News Day]

Wal-Mart death preventable, union says [CNN]

Sought: Wal-Mart shoppers who trampled NY worker [Guardian]

Black Friday bargain hunters trample Walmart worker [Denver News Examiner]

Lessons from a Black Friday death at Wal-Mart [Kansas City Star]

Stating the Obvious: Don't Be Caught Dead At Wal-Mart [Huffington Post]

Wal-Mart Shoppers Are Trained To Be "Savages" [Huffington Post]

Black Friday At Wal-Mart: The Cost Of Crazed Consumerism [Huffington Post]

Security video may hold clues in Walmart death [The Columbus Dispatch]

Wal-Mart Worker Trampled to Death Lacked Training, Attorney Says [Fox News]

Police to review Walmart video of Black Friday trampling death [Charleston Daily Mail]

$2M sought in store stampede [News Day]

A preventable death at Wal-Mart [The Oregonian]

Wal-Mart Assailed on Death [Wall Street Journal]

Wal-Mart reeling in wake of trampling death [AdWeek]

Wal-Mart guard lacked experience [Chicago Sun Times]