Canadian business leaders and lawyers have a piece of advice for Congress: Don't pass card check legislation with mandated government arbitration—it will harm investment, curtail job creation, and increase unemployment, especially among America's small businesses. 

Canadian provinces are now moving away from card check laws as their unemployment rates have increased, job creation has stalled, and productivity has declined, John Raudabaugh, a partner at Baker and McKenzie law firm pointed out. Raudabaugh and other Canadians spoke at a U.S. Chamber event in July.

Norman Cote, director of employee relations at Bank of Montreal, said that one of his bank's competitors faced salary increases of 25% after a government arbitrator imposed a first contract, causing the bank a year later to close down what had been a profitable division.

Small businesses, in particular, would be disproportionately affected by the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) because they have fewer resources to fight off big labor unions before and after the organizing drive, added John Mortimer, president of Canadian Labour Watch.

And though government arbitration is supposed to speed up contract negotiations, the Canadian experience suggests otherwise. There, it takes 24 to 36 weeks to finalize a contract, according to Ted Goloff of the Robinson, Sheppard, Shapiro law firm, and "it's costly in terms of time and money."

Some card check supporters in the United States are discussing legislative compromises, including requiring expedited secret ballot elections in lieu of a card check process. However, in Canada, where most provinces require elections within 5 to 10 days of a union petition, small businesses often don't have the information they need to launch a counter campaign in such a compressed timeframe or the infrastructure in place to quickly make their case to employees, according to panelists at the event.