AT&T, Inc (NYSE: T) let five union contracts expire over this past weekend. With 80,000 of its U.S. workers now operating under no labor contract at all, the telecom giant is in the process of negotiating new terms before those workers are told to strike by their unions.

AT&T shares are now almost at the same level as three years ago (with a rise in '07 and '08), and investors are asking why workers are being treated like royalty. Are they?

Welcome to Way Off Wall Street, a column dedicated to providing Main Street opinions on topics of interest to investors. Each installment highlights the views of Americans who are far removed from the canyons of Wall Street -- and who often see things more clearly as a result.

Now that the dust has settled, it's nice to see that the factory sit-in at Republic Doors and Windows in Chicago was successfully resolved. The fact that the tumultuous event was dealt with in such a solid and peaceful manner speaks well of modern organized labor. It cannot be denied that the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America union, played a large part in bringing an acceptable resolution to the matter. This raises an important question: can and should America's labor unions find ways to be more deeply engaged in the current attempts to fix what is wrong with our nation's economy? It seems to me, in this time of great economic turmoil, that America's labor unions have stayed conspicuously on the sidelines.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2007 the number of Americans belonging to labor unions totaled approximately 15.7 million. I expect that for 2008 that total has declined a bit, but not much. This means labor unions watch over about 12% of our nation's hourly and salaried workers. Those aren't numbers to be taken lightly. The question is, how much of that union clout exists simply to compel corporate America to conform to it's whims, and how much of it is dedicated to particularly benefiting the overall good of the labor force without deference to what form that good might take? Labor unions exist, in essence, to protect laborers from oppression and exploitation. What is a union's part when that oppression is brought on by the larger global economy, and that exploitation is perpetrated by governments, rather than by a particular employer?

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.

With both houses of the U.S. Congress now in Democratic control, the battle of labor unions vs. business interests was bound to take center stage. And here we are -- business interests are raising millions of greenbacks to try and defeat renewed labor union efforts. No surprise here.

A new U.S. House of Representatives committee working just this week on the "Employee Free Choice Act" would provide greater legal protection for union organizers. Do businesses with large amounts of labor-based employees want this? No, of course not. This battle will see the light of day again soon -- very soon -- as these two perennial enemies duel it out underneath the umbrella of this new committee.

It's pretty easy to see that large leaders of the labor unions provided hefty sums to support recent democratic hopefuls in recent elections, and we all know the outcome as these unions now have Democratic friends in influential high places. A key driving stat that will be used over and over though? How about this: the percentage of wage and salaried workers in unions last year was 12%, compared with 20% in 1983 -- about 24 years ago.

First, a history lesson: Labor practices in the newspaper industry nearly ruined that business by the 1980s. Thanks to the unions, there was so much overstaffing at printing presses, a practice known as featherbedding, that pressmen could come and go almost at will (picture eight pressmen operating a four-man press). The New York Daily News nearly had to shut down due to such practices -- until management put their feet down and said "No more."

Next consider today's automobile industry: It has almost been destroyed by the inflexibility of labor. Legacy retirement and healthcare costs are so high that the Big Three can no longer make money in North America.

And, yesterday, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) took another public relations hit by telling it's employees that they need to come to work when it snows.

Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't sound like such a tough policy -- especially for a company with virtually flat same-store sales in the U.S, a company that is struggling to get back on its feet in its home market. When people don't come to work, it hurts productivity. And someone else has to do their job. The customer experience may suffer.

Groups like union-backed WakeUpWalMart also object to the fact that employees have to call in to a toll-free number to report an absence. What would they prefer? That Wal-Mart outfit employees with carrier pigeons?

Labor organizers are going down a path that is not good for Wal-Mart's investors or its workers. The answer to less productivity in most industries is cutting the work force.

At least they won't have to call in.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.