Worker advocates pressed Sunday for better employee training after a Wal-Mart worker in Valley Stream was killed in a holiday shopping stampede.
The nonprofit group Workplace Project led the vigil and rally at the Valley Stream mall where Jdimytai Damour died Nov. 28. The temporary worker was trampled when an estimated 2,000 shoppers surged into Wal-Mart for post-Thanksgiving bargains.
Workplace Project spokesman Saul Lenares says the group wanted to show solidarity with Damour and push companies to provide more crowd-control training.
"Apparently, Wal-Mart and other corporations think that killing workers is just another expense, another cost of doing business," says David Pratt, who took part in the protest.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has said it tried to prepare for the "Black Friday" crowd by adding workers, putting up barricades and consulting with police.
AP wire services were used in this report.