Welcome to the 74th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

This week, I'll be taking a look at whether Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (NYSE: WMT) attempts to fend off unions in its stores can continue succeeding. With Labor Day occurring in the U.S. tomorrow, it seemed appropriate to delve a little into Wal-Mart's potential labor union situation in its U.S. stores based on small gains being made in Canadian Wal-Mart locations.

North of the U.S. border, there has been a successful attempt to unionize Wal-Mart workers in the province of Quebec. Although the location is small, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union sees it as an entry point into unionizing more Wal-Mart Supercenters in Canada.

With critics saying that the entry of Wal-Mart into many markets (if not all) has caused wages to go down and competition to deteriorate, the heat won't go down on Wal-Mart's fending off collective unions in its Canadian stores. And, when the heat gets hot enough, the UFCW and others will set their sights on U.S. locations -- the holy grail of organized labor potential if there ever was one. Wal-Mart isn't taking those threats lying down, and has even called meetings with U.S. managers to bring the upcoming Presidential election into the fray.

Wal-Mart employees calling for their employer to improve working conditions and make company health insurance more affordable is probably not the image the world's largest retailer wants to have. But a union-backed group is to launch two television ads today that feature exactly those images and words.

Starting today, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union will be running ads starting today that feature Wal-Mart workers. The 30-second ads, produced by WakeUpWalMart.com, show three workers who list their complaints. The complaints include low wages and an odd claim of being locked in stores without the ability to care for a sick child.

One complaint I will never get about Wal-Mart is the absurd "low wage" argument. Wal-Mart does comply with the law, and workers have complete freedom to work or not work there. The tired rhetoric of the downtrodden being somehow "forced" to work at Wal-Mart still holds no water as far as I am concerned. Wal-Mart may indeed pay low -- albeit legal -- wages, but should not be forced to pay higher wages or the very fabric of capitalism will start to be shredded. Workers should be responsible for their own families, not a private employer.

Although I do have many beefs with Wal-Mart, I agree with the company on this one. It says, "Our customers see these attacks as a part of a tired and failing campaign. Americans know that Wal-Mart creates jobs, reduces the cost of health care through our $4 generic drug program and protects the environment through our sustainability efforts."