With stimulus packages, bailouts, bankruptcies, executive bonuses and foreclosures catching most of the attention of the Washington news media of late, businesses need to be made aware of another piece of legislation introduced this month in  Congress. It’s called the Employee Free Choice Act.

For about 70 years, the rules for obtaining exclusive union representation certification from the National Labor Relations Board has been straightforward: Union organizers must be able to show they have the support from at least 30 percent of a group of employees. Then the NLRB facilitates a secret ballot election. If a majority approve of unionization, the NLRB certifies the union.

The Employee Free Choice Act seeks to change the procedure that would allow union certification through a “card check” provision. It would replace the secret ballot and would require the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union if a majority of a company’s employees sign union authorization cards.

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The card check procedure would be run by union organizers. As such, workers’ decisions would no longer be private. It would give union organizers the opportunity to use intimidation to pressure workers who might be reluctant to sign a union authorization card.

The secret ballot has served this nation well when it comes to electing our political leaders and nobody is suggesting that should be changed. The secret ballot has also served in union organization elections. The right to vote, in private, has been inviolate. Replacing that with a card system is a mistake.

The Employee Free Choice Act would also require a board of arbitrators to rule on union contracts if workers and employers fail to reach an agreement. Either party could request mediation after 90 days of bargaining and arbitration after another 30 days. Binding arbitration would take place after 120 days.

This effectively replaces private, good-faith bargaining with a government-mandated solution. Here, the question is: How is government intervention better than a solution arrived at by those most impacted by a union contract?

The Employee Free Choice Act reared its head in Congress last year when the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approved it. But it failed in the Senate, falling nine votes short of getting the necessary 60 senators to force a vote on it.

As a senator, Barack Obama was a co-sponsor of last year’s the Employee Free Choice Act. It would be expected that if the measure were to get to his desk, President Obama would sign it.

Before the Employee Free Choice Act can get to the president’s desk, though, it will most likely have to survive a Republican filibuster, once again requiring 60 senators to force a vote on the bill. But the Senate is getting dangerously close to meeting that goal with 56 Democrats, two independents who caucus with Democrats and the unresolved Minnesota election between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken possibly coming into play.

Contact Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl and Representatives Gabrielle Giffords and Raúl Grijalva — contact information is on page 22. Southern Arizona’s representatives in Congress need to know business leaders here are paying attention to the Employee Free Choice Act, even if it isn’t catching the attention of the news media.