The secret ballot is a cherished concept in our democracy and should be sacrosanct. Unfortunately, some members of Congress are on the verge of taking action that will undermine this hallmark of our democratic process. U.S. senators vote today on a bill that could deprive workers of a secret ballot when deciding if they want to unionize their workplace. Employees’ votes would no longer be secret from bosses, union organizers, and coworkers. And many workers could be disenfranchised — not consulted on whether they want to unionize at all.

Under the Senate bill, and a similar bill passed in the House, union activists could unionize a workplace by persuading a majority of employees to sign a card designating the union as their bargaining representative. Known as a “card check,” union bosses would know how each participant had voted. Unions would run these “elections” in place of the U.S. government–supervised elections used today.

Right now, secret-ballot workplace elections are administered by the National Labor Relations Board established during the New Deal. Current law guarantees all employees the right to organize and bargain collectively with their employers but also to vote whether to have a union.

This system guarantees a fairness borne out by federally supervised workplace-election results. Six in ten federally supervised secret ballots resulted in union representation in 2005 — the last year for which figures are available — compared to four in ten in which employees rejected unionization.

Americans support this fair play. Nine in ten voters — and nine in ten union households — believe that every worker should have the right to a federally supervised secret ballot when deciding whether to organize a union, according to an opinion poll conducted this year.

Public and union household support for secret ballots has been upheld time and time again in America’s courts. “It is beyond dispute that the secret-ballot election is a more accurate reflection of the employees’ true desires than a check of authorization cards collected at the behest of a union organizer,” the U.S. Second Court of Appeals has ruled. The District of Columbia Circuit Court has stated: “Freedom of choice is a matter at the very center of our national labor relations policy and a secret election is the preferred method of gauging choice.”

Why would a Senate bill want to tear up the tradition of secret ballots that has protected U.S. workers for two generations? Simple: declining union membership. One in ten employees belongs to a union today, down from one in five in 1983. Thankfully, members of Congress are elected by secret ballot. But some legislators want to deny that right to employees, and try to increase union representation without a fair vote. The Senate bill does this by requiring only that union organizers obtain signatures from half of all employees plus one to unionize. The other half of the workforce need not be consulted under this legislation.

While half the workforce may remain voiceless under“card check,” those employees who are involved in the decision may feel obligated or pressured to vote one way or another. Some employees may sign the union card unaware of their rights. Others may do so out of fear of the consequences if the union or their employer or coworkers disapprove of their choice.

The way that card-check legislation undermines employees’ choice has been recognized by NLRB members appointed by both parties. Appointed to NLRB by President Clinton, Charles Cohen testified to Congress: “Card check agreements [to unionize] are almost always the product of external leverage by unions, rather than an internal groundswell from unrepresented employees.” Quite simply, secret ballots in which every employee has the right to vote are an important protection against fraud, intimidation, and coercion.

America’s restaurants employ almost one in ten of the nation’s employees and create one in eight new jobs. We are the largest employer of immigrants and of minorities in the nation. All employees in this or any other industry should continue to enjoy the right to a private vote to decide which union they want to represent them or if they want to represent themselves. Our nation chose secret ballots to elect politicians and workplace representatives to protect the vulnerable from the unscrupulous, and to allow everyone a chance to vote. Let’s not allow a few unscrupulous politicians to turn the clock back on voter privacy.

— Richard Rivera is chairman of the National Restaurant Association.