Here at Freedom @ Work, we often discuss card check by citing examples of employees being harassed, misled, or lied to by union organizers.
But simple common sense also says that when (often intimidating) individuals shove a piece of paper in your face, and tell you that it is in your interest to sign, you may well do it — even if you aren’t exactly sure what you are signing.
Case in point are two videos — both done for television shows — of people signing absurd petitions. In both cases, the signature collectors don’t even lie to the people whose signatures they seek about what they are signing.
In one video, two comedians set up a table at a fair and easily collect dozens of signatures, mostly from women, to "end women’s suffrage." Meaning that without even lying, they got dozens of women to sign a petition in favor of eliminating their right to vote.
In another video, shown below, a women collects hundreds of signatures to ban "Dihydrogen Monoxide" — better known as water — at a rally of environmentalists. Like, the "end women’s suffrage" pranksters, the signature collector truthfully informs prospective signers about the chemical (water) that they want to ban:
As these videos show, just because someone signs a petition or card, doesn’t mean they really understand what they are signing. Furthermore, Foundation legal cases have shown outright lies about the meaning or effect of the cards. These realities are something that must be remembered when union bosses or their allies in Congress attempt to impose more card check coercion on workers.