There has been a bit of discussion lately around these parts about Ryszard Tomtas, the immigrant who was involved with the Polish Solidarity movement and is now staging a hunger strike after being fired by Wal-Mart ostensibly for trying to organize a union at a store in Loveland, Colorado. (Of course, they don’t admit this and claim he was fired for “horseplay”.)
For more info about this story check out these awesome diaries by our own intrepid Wal-Mart watcher, JRMonsterfodder.
A taste from the Denver Channel:
Ryszard Tomtas was fired Tuesday for “horseplay” he said, but he believes he was really fired because he was trying to organize a union at the center.
So what can we do?
More on the flip…
(cross posted at daily kos)
A lot of the discussion of this situation has centered on what can be done for Mr. Tomtas at the site of his hunger strike in Loveland. (great name for a town, eh?) And while I certainly believe that it’s indeed vitally important to make contact with him there, I feel that Wal-Mart, being such a ubiquitous presence in our midst, is reachable everywhere.
My circumstances here in Brooklyn are somewhat unique. We actually just sent their asses packing a few weeks ago. But, pretty much everyone else in the country lives in relatively close to a number of Wal-Marts. They’re fucking everywhere.
What I propose is this:
Why not get as many Boomanese from around the country show up on the same day at their local Wal-Mart with literature about Mr Tomtas’ case as well as some of the many other similar cases where Wal-Mart has pulled much the same union busting bullshit. Some may choose to emulate Mr. Tomtas by forgoing food too. Whatever. We show up at Wal-Marts everywhere and try to bring attention to Mr Tomtas’ case as well as Wal-Mart’s shameful history regarding unions. We write a standard press release that you would send to your local media alerting them to the fact that this action is taking place in the hopes that this story garners more attention than it has thus far (pretty much nothing).
By taking this action, which, let’s face it, would be pretty damned easy to pull off, we take Mr Tomtas’ story and make it a national story with hopefully enough buzz from local outlets from sea to shining sea to make some serious noise. We may be even be able to get this poor guy’s job back. Who knows?
What needs to happen first? Well, here’s how I see it.
- Someone in the Loveland area needs to get in touch with Mr. Tomtas and let him know that he’s not alone, that there are hundreds if not thousands who are with him and have his back. One could even say that they are acting in Solidarity with him. Urge him to hang on a bit longer and slip the poor guy a sandwich if ya gotta. Help is on the way…
- We’re gonna need some literature about his case and all the others to distribute. Signs with his picture on them would be great too. I have so far failed to find one. Anyone out there willing to pick this one up?
- We’re gonna need a press release to send to your local media outlets to alert them to what this action is all about. Once again, anyone willing to take this one?
- We need a date to do this and it needs to be soon. This poor guy probably can’t hang on all that much longer. This weekend would be great, but it’s probably too soon. Plus, as I’m sure many of you are aware, there’s plenty going on this weekend regarding the second anniversary of the war in Iraq. A slow news day, Monday or Tuesday perhaps, might be best.
I think this is wonderful opportunity for us to show a little organizing-on-the-fly savvy, some muscle, to help out someone who not only needs it, but has shown a remarkable measure of intestinal fortitude by enduring a hunger strike, to shine a light on Wal-Mart’s absolutely horrendous labor record and to gleefully stick it to them. (And who doesn’t relish the chance to gleefully stick it to those Bentonville fucktards anyway?)
Anyone agreeing to participate in the actual action at your local Wal-Mart should be prepared for some hassles from cops (rental and otherwise) but keep in mind that Mr. Tomtas was one of many brave folks who once stood in the Lenin shipyards and faced down both Jaruzelsk and the Soviets. I think we would be wise to take his example to heart and tell whoever comes out to intimidate us to go get fucked.
Keep on us. Keep posting about this. I know several people from California to Michigan who are very upset about this story and so will pass on your diary to them.
i’ll certainly try. but, the thing to remember here, at least in this particular case, is that time is really of the essence here. this poor guy can’t hold out forever. i think what most interested me about this case was that the man is a former member of solidarity who is quite blatantly being screwed for his union activities and furthermore has the fucking balls to respond by going on a hunger strike. if there has been a more action-ripe scenario regarding wal-mart in recent times, i’d like to see it. this one just seems like a natural to me.
thanks for the encouragement and the recommend.
Glad to see this. I had read diary on Kos on this and wondered what the bloody hell ‘horseplay’ was for christs sake.
Haven’t been to a Wal-Mart in over 3 years or so. Somewhow Wal-Mart and bush evil empire are kinda rolled up into one for me. Wal-Mart causes hunger due to it’s unlivable wage which is why so many people end up on food stamps working there.
Good suggestions here and hope that this can be a call to action for people around the country. Anything to cause more/more attention to the vile practices of this company is good.( I can’t personally do anything due to my medical problems/not getting out)
And apropo of nothing, I’m also part Polish and once spent a day in Loveland due to bad bus connection.
we don’t have walmarts here. i haven’t been in one for a few years either. but, i do remember what they did to the mainstreet in my hometown. it was devastating. to be honest, i hate them. plus, i am more than willing to travel to jersey, long island or to westchester county to make a stink on this guy’s behalf (as well as on the behalf of all the others who have been bullied and abused in a similar manner.) don’t worry about not being able to get out much. i think if properly motivated, we can pull this off. if you really wanna be be involved, would you consider helping to draft the press release? every little bit helps, ya know.
I will have to let people know to what extent I’m disabled and pretty much have hard time having anyone count on me for anything..hands tire easily etc when posting. However I have been wanting a way to do something so maybe you could let me know what exactly you mean and I’ll let you know if thats possible for me.
Will not be posting much more tonight but will check in tomorrow or if I can’t sleep later.
are the rest of the Unions on this? We need to inform the unions about what is going on here.
in a an article dated march 11:
which sounds rather encouraging. i certainly hope they follow through.
We don’t have a Wal-Mart here – and we’ve been boycotting Wal-Mart for years. Got my family in Utah to start boycotting them after the election.
Anything we can do from a distance?