One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you

My mother doesn't understand why I don't shop at Wal-Mart. She thinks it is an abnormal obsession of mine. She tells me that part of how she raised three children and sent them to college (with my father) was by knowing a bargain when she saw one. But at what price -- is that bargain worth your soul?

I was raised in a union family. My father was president of CWA Local 3905 more than once. I remember seeing him on television during strike years, and the retro purple-and-gold union logo that Dad had on so many things is fresh in my mind. So I cannot understand why Mom doesn't get it.

Wal-Mart will not let its North American employees unionize. In February 2005, Wal-Mart shuttered its store in Jonquiere, Quebec, rather than negotiate with a strong employee union. Wal-Mart says the following regarding unions:

There has never been a need for a Walmart union due to the familiar, special relationship between Wal-Mart associates and their managers.

However, Wal-Mart has allowed Chinese workers to unionize.

Should associates request formation of a union, Wal-Mart China would respect their wishes.

In an even more stunning move, Wal-Mart required that any new union be affiliated with a union federation dominated by the Communist Party.

Wal-Mart has a history of sending corporate union-busters to stores that are threatening to organize. Bentonville has created a Manager’s Toolbox to keep each store union-free. (“Staying union free is a full-time commitment.”) And complaints have been filed against Wal-Mart in a majority of states for violating workers' rights in this area. (Just Google "Wal-Mart" and "union" and watch the results flow in.)

California Rep. George Miller, now the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, has done an admirable job of chronicling these abuses. His committee investigations have turned up dozens of abuses by Wal-Mart regarding worker rights, overtime rules, child labor, undocumented workers, worker safety, discrimination, and unaffordable or unavailable health care.

Miller released a 2004 report – Everyday Low Wages – alleging that every Wal-Mart store employing 200 full-time employees created a $420,750 tax burden that has to be absorbed by taxpayers. These costs include food stamps and housing assistance for those living on Wal-Mart wages; free and reduced-cost school lunches; other low-income federal tax credits; Title I educational funding; and more.

At 3,287 Wal-Mart discount stores and super centers in the United States as of December 2006, that is an additional tax burden on all Americans of $1.38 billion every year.

I do not believe Wal-Mart is evil, nor do I believe its executives or store employees are bad people. In fact, in some places, Wal-Mart has displaced alternative employment so successfully that many people needing jobs have nowhere else to turn but their local Supercenter. But it is not worth it to me to save dimes and dollars here and there in exchange for the damage that Wal-Mart does in so many areas.

So if you are still willing to sell your soul for a little convenience or pocket change, then consider what $1.38 billion could buy:

• 63 new elementary schools housing 1,124 students each (Wake County, NC);
• 15,975 new police officers, including salary, benefits, and other costs (Burr Ridge, IL);
• 15 new central libraries (Austin, TX);
• 222 miles of new interstate highways (Missouri DOT);
• 174,932 INTERCEPTOR body armor protection systems (globalsecurity.org);
• or almost 11 million mammograms for those who cannot afford them (Minnesota).

Heck, it could even fund four Bridges to Nowhere.