By Bryan O'Keefe

The Boston Herald had an editorial earlier this week about a bill currently before the state legislature there that would mandate card checks for public employees. The editorial makes the same case for secret ballots that we saw earlier this year when similar legislation was before Congress.

But beyond the Massachusetts bill, there is a larger issue that employers should recognize about state-level card check initiatives. Often times, the private sector ignores these bills because they only pertain to public employees. Many private companies reason that because they will not be directly employing these people, the issue doesn’t matter to them.

In fact, nothing can be further from the truth. Just consider this: employers know that in order to do business effectively, they have to deal with a countless number of government employees at the local, state, and federal levels. Obtaining water and garbage permits, dealing with sensitive environmental issues, land and zoning issues – these types of matters can impact a company for years to come and often times career government employees play a fundamental role in deciding the outcome.

If these employees are unionized, that could have an impact on these types of important business decisions, especially if your company has had less than amicable relations with labor unions. To be sure, many government employees are professionals and are trying to do their jobs honestly. But they are almost human. They are forced to make judgments about these matters and the credibility of the messenger will ultimately matter. Given the "brotherhood" message that unions effectively communicate, chances are much more likely that fellow unions will have more credibility than employers in these types of disputes.

Take this hypothetical: The government employees in X town are unionized. JKL company is applying for new environmental permits for a factory expansion. In order to obtain the permits, JKL must go through the local environmental agency. All of the decision-makers there were unionized through a local card check bill. JKL has resisted card check at its own factories, leading to public protests by labor unions. If the labor unions make a fuss about these new environmental permits (and experience tells us that they will), who do you think the unionized government employees are going to be more likely to believe? The company or fellow union members?

All of this means that the private sector should keep a watchful eye on all card check legislation, as well as the rising number of unionized public sector employees more generally. It might not directly impact your business today, but it could matter in significant ways down the road.

Bryan O’Keefe is a labor policy analyst in Washington, DC.