Disgruntled Lithuanian workers gather signatures agains Wal-Mart

  • 2005-08-17
  • From wire reports
VILNIUS - Lithuanians and Poles have begun organizing a campaign to support their compatriots who have been exploited by U.S. giant Wal-Mart, the Lietuvos Rytas daily reported this week.


The first protests occurred in Poland, with Poles gathering complaints about the abuse of their compatriots who work for Wal-Mart, the world's largest retail firm. Recently Lithuanians have joined the campaign as well, the paper reported.

Several Lithuanians contacted Lietuvos Rytas and confirmed that their compatriots who worked for Wal-Mart, and are claiming exploitation, have filled out special electronic requests to have their rights defended by the New Jersey law office of Cohen, Weiss & Simon.

The office has pledged to pay compensation of $12,000 per each signatory of complaints in the event of a court victory against Wal-Mart.

The lawyers have reportedly received a pledge to refrain from any penalties for any possible violations of immigration regulations by the complainants and have vowed to preserve their clients' anonymity.

Wal-Mart, which operates the largest chain of retail stores in the world, controls over 5,000 retail centers. U.S. authorities suspect that about 10,000 illegal immigrants, mostly from Eastern Europe, worked for the chain in the U.S.A. in the past four years.