Brian Pannebecker knew trouble was brewing when he found one of his letters to the editor defaced with a swastika.

Pannebecker, a self-described conservative who works for Ford at an axle plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, campaigned against his local branch of the United Auto Workers Union for two years, in 2010 and 2011. As a spokesman for Michigan’s anti-union organization Freedom to Work, Pannebecker was not shy about his beliefs and often wrote letters to the editors of local publications.

“When my articles would appear in the paper, some of my co-workers who were strong union advocates and union supporters would post copies of them all around the plant and write derogatory comments on them. They put swastikas on them,” he says. “They would put rifle-scope crosshairs on my picture when my picture was in the paper.”

It’s getting ugly in many more places. The labor movement in the US, battered over the past three decades, has another big fight on its hands.The successful “right to work” movement has swept two dozen states, accelerating in the past five years to include Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and others. The movement may spread to even more states, posing an existential threat to unions.



With right-to-work laws, corporate advocates strike at the heart of union finances by convincing workers to cut off their union memberships and stop paying their dues. Right-to-work activists argue that unions, with their hard-charging style and high costs, drive away employers and kill jobs. Some workers believe that they deserve the right to choose whether they pay their dues.



Union leaders consider opting out of the union a betrayal that reduces the power of collective bargaining. They object that right to work creates a “free ride” problem where union leaders and members do the heavy lifting of negotiating higher pay and better hours with management, while non-member workers reap the benefits without contributing to the cost.

Prior to enactment of right-to-work laws, union members who disagreed with the union’s use of funds – specifically for political activities – could become non-members. They would pay only partial dues that covered collective bargaining and other representational services. Those who opted to stop paying dues completely could have been at risk of being fired.



“Right to work” undermines that union power because it allows workers to pay no dues at all, even in unionized workplaces, and face no penalties except being ostracized.



It’s a complicated struggle painted in shades of gray, with the pervasive fear of unemployment; a recognition even among union advocates that the labor movement has to do more to embrace diversity; and, at the core of the matter, money – the cost of union dues, as well as how unions spend them on everything from staff salaries to political campaigns.



It’s also often an ugly struggle, as right-to-work advocates and union members engage in a bitter tug-of-war to get more workers on their respective sides. Resisters can be and often are mocked and otherwise excluded from work culture.



Don Dishman, of Battle Creek, Michigan, protests at a rally at the Capitol in Lansing. Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP Photo

The war of stereotypes



Right-to-work advocates have come far by claiming the middle ground against the passion of union members, presenting union membership as a relative luxury – expensive and unnecessary.



“There are a lot of unions in right-to-work states,” says Patrick Semmens, spokesman for the National Right to Work Committee. “If you talk to those unions especially outside the context of right-to-work laws, they’ll tell you they are very effective and they do a good job for their members. It doesn’t stop unions from doing all the things they normally do. It just means they can’t force people who don’t want to be part of a union to pay for it.”

Union supporters express frustration with the barrage of advertisements and campaigns on why members should leave unions. They are tired of being portrayed as “fat and rich and entitled”. They view themselves as protectors of workers, not as “an ATM for Democrats”, and fear that right-to-work could be their demise.

As a result, in some cases union members circulate “scab lists” of “freeloaders” who have chosen to leave the union. Outspoken right-to-work supporters find themselves associated with the Nazis, their letters to the editor defaced with swastikas and posted in shared break rooms.



“There is some minor harassment,” says Patrick Wright, vice-president of legal affairs at the Mackinac Center, when discussing how union supporters treat workers who opted out. Most of it is limited to publicly naming those workers, to ostracize them, and making snide comments.

Others say there’s more than that. The Michigan Education Association found that 5,000 of the union’s 110,000 members chose the right-to-work path and opted out of union membership. It then commissioned an outside firm to write a report on how unions treated members who left the ranks.



The MEA union ultimately avoided direct conflict with the right-to-work employees and neither named nor shamed them – but nonethless considers them “freeloaders, for lack of a better word”, says Steven Cook, president of the association.



Cook acknowledges that the report showed that other unions have been more confrontational. “The trade unions, for example – if they could have put a tattooed letter on their forehead or a different-colored hard hat, they’d do it.”

On the other side, some right-to-work advocates work on undermining workers’ confidence in their union colleagues, spreading speculation and rumors that union membership destroys jobs.

“It’s been a constant drumbeat: ‘Leave the union. Leave the union,’” Cook says, adding that the right-to-work campaign – consisting of email blasts and town hall meetings – highlights that members who leave the union can save as much as $800 a year. Right-to-work advocates are relentless, he indicates: “We have seen a literal campaign from the other side sprout up in the early summer: ‘Don’t forget to leave the union.’”

He calls the 5,000 members who have jumped ship “not a tremendous loss” in the context of current workers.

The battle is a continuing one: on Wednesday, nine labor unions filed suit in a Kentucky federal court to stop right-to-work legislation.

Unions have long been known for their passion, which right to work advocates are painting as extreme and unnecessary. Photograph: TANNEN MAURY/EPA

The battleground: Michigan

Michigan is a key example of how right-to-work battles can change the dynamics of a workplace and divide colleagues.



It’s been over two years since Michigan became the 24th right-to-work state, allowing union members to stop paying dues but still be represented in the collective bargaining.

The topic of unions is divisive all over Michigan – from the halls of its legislative buildings to the floors of its local factories.



Right-to-work advocates say they are under fire, especially in union strongholds and factory towns like Detroit.

Despite becoming a right-to-work state, Michigan comes in seventh in union membership. In 2013, 16.3% of Michigan’s workers were members of a union, compared to 16.2% in 2012. At that same time, the state’s workforce grew and as a result the number of unionized workers rose to 633,000 from 629,000 in 2012, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Detroit is a very pro-union town and when you start questioning the unions’ behavior, it gets very emotional at times,” Brian Pannebecker says matter-of-factly.

He insists that right-to-work is only designed to give workers like him a choice to leave the union, which he says is “aligned with liberal Democrats”.

“I can no longer in good conscience continue to give them part of my earnings and watch them spend money on things that I don’t necessarily agree with,” Pannebecker says of his former dues of $50 to $70 a month. “So, I resigned from the union this past summer and pay only the portion of the dues that goes towards collective bargaining and representation.”



The higher the number of workers who resign and quit the union over a difference in ideals, the more likely it is that the unions will get the point, says Pannebecker.

After he received a number of veiled threats, Pannebecker finally went to the union to report the incidents. The United Auto Workers Union (UAW) handled the matter promptly and the workers responsible, who were in the minority, were warned, he says.

But the UAW has yet to feel the full impact of the law: September will mark the first time that UAW contracts come up for renewal in Michigan since the passage of the right-to-work law. The union declined to comment for this story.

Pannebecker predicts that just a couple hundred workers will leave the union at the plant where he works. The plant currently employs 1,600 to 1,800 workers, he says.



The campaign by right-to-work advocates to increase awareness about the August window at the Michigan Education Association is just that – an awareness outreach effort, says Wright, who works at the Mackinac Center, an organization behind the effort.

“Because we were of a belief that a lot of their members were unaware of this August time period, we did run an information campaign this past year,” he says.

A silent protester cries while wearing a sticker over her mouth signifying the loss in wages from the right-to-work law in Lansing, Michigan, on 12 December 2012. Photograph: Paul Sancya /AP Photo

Right to work: not a death sentence for unions

Right-to-work advocates insist that the law is not designed to kill the unions, but to give workers the freedom to chose whether they want to financially support them.

John Cakmakci’s response to that argument is simple:“Baloney! Baloney!”

Cakmakci is the president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 951.

“Someone comes to me who works at Kroger’s store and says to me, ‘I don’t want to be in the union.’ Well, then, don’t work here,” he says. “There are plenty of places you can go to without a union.”

Cakmakci also believes that the $400 to $500 members can save in dues by leaving United Food and Commercial Workers union is not worth quitting the union over. He does believe, however, that unions are becoming less reflective of the people they represent.



“That’s the one thing that the labor has gotten themselves in trouble over the years – you are either Democrat or nothing. I think that’s wrong,” he says. Besides trying to work across the aisle, unions should also make an effort to include women and minorities on their staff, he says.