That didn't take long. Six Maryland business groups, including the Maryland Retailers Associaton and the Restaurant Association of Maryland, put out a statement opposing the Employee Free Choice Act, which seems quite likely to pass the new Congress. The measure would let employees check a card to vote on whether to certify a union. Now they have to vote by secret ballot in elections supervised by the Feds. The letter, to Maryland's congressional delegation, reads:

On behalf of our over 10,000 member businesses, we are writing to express our strong opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800). While this legislation failed in this session of Congress, it will be before the Congress next year and we want you to know our position.

Commonly referred to as "Card Check" bill, this legislation would
bypass the current secret-ballot process to form a union as regulated by the
National Labor Relations Board. Whether voting for President of the United
States or President of the student body, Americans have relied upon the
private ballot to protect voters from undue influence or harassment. Current
law protects the independent views of workers by providing for a federally
supervised private ballot election. Under the Employee Free Choice Act, the
private ballot would be replaced with a vote in-the-open process that would
subject independently minded workers to coercion and harassment.
Additionally, this sweeping legislation would take wage and benefit
negotiations away from employees and managers and instead rely on a single
federal arbitrator with likely little or no prior knowledge of the company to
make those decisions.

The Card Check legislation is a game changer and of the utmost
concern to our member employers. We cannot overstate the strong feelings
of our members against this legislation. Amidst the worst financial and
economic crisis since the Great Depression, enactment of card check could
not be more ill timed. Our members have enough challenges just trying to
keep the doors open and meet their payrolls.