Canadian Court respects the private ballot.  Will the U.S. Congress?

A certification order issued last year to unionize workers at the Weyburn Wal-Mart store has been voided by a Court of Queen's Bench justice...The UFCW applied for the certification based on the contention that a majority of the workers in the proposed bargaining unit at the Weyburn store, 110 kilometres southeast of Regina, had signed union cards. A secret ballot was not held and was not required under the labour laws in effect at that time...But changes to provincial labour law, implemented in May 2008, stipulate that a vote by secret ballot is now required to certify a union....

Wal-Mart believes workers have a right to be represented by a union but should also have the right to vote in a secret ballot before a union is certified, [Wal-Mart Canada spokesman Kevin] Groh said, in a telephone interview Wednesday...Workers now employed at the store cheered when they were told of the latest court ruling, Groh said...

The old card-signing system of certifying unions was permitted by legislation introduced by the NDP government in power up until the 2007 provincial election.  The Saskatchewan Party, that won the 2007 election, had promised to change labour legislation and to require a secret ballot for union certification. The secret ballot requirement was among several changes to labour law passed by the Saskatchewan Party government, despite objections from the NDP Opposition.