Labor unions have played a key role in improving the quality of life for countless working-class Hawaii residents.

It's a hard-won benefit, recognized in federal law: Workers may form a union through a formal process that includes a secret ballot monitored by the National Labor Relations Board.

That vote is important. It can shape the future of the company and its workers, for better or worse. A worker faced with this choice should make it with care, fully informed of the pros and cons and without undue pressure from either side. In other words, in the same way we elect public officials: in the privacy of a voting booth.

Two bills in the Legislature — House Bill 952 and Senate Bill 1621 — make it easy to circumvent this process through a "card-check" system.

They would allow a simple majority of people who've signed an authorization card to organize a union, and set a deadline for the two parties to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement. No voting required.

This makes it easier to form unions. But it does so by potentially eliminating much of the debate among the employer, employees and union organizers on the merits of unionizing a company. That's unwise, especially with businesses trying to retool themselves in a weak economy.

Union activists say the current system gives an unfair advantage to employers, who can pressure employees in ways a union organizer can't — in the workplace. But a card-check system can swing the advantage the other way. Neither serves the interests of the worker.

Reforming the system to protect against abuses may be necessary. But taking away the secret ballot isn't the answer.