As Funds Dried Up, Nonprofit Immigration Group Hired Anti-Labor Law Firm to Crush Union

As the two executives of immigration advocacy group Washington Immigration Solidarity Network (WAISN) burned through cash and as donations dropped, a unionization effort from their workers led them to do something unthinkable for a Washington nonprofit allied with labor unions. WAISN hired Davis Grimm Payne & Marra, a top union-busting law firm in the Pacific Northwest whose work has eroded unions’ right to strike across the US. The “Network” in WAISN’s name includes labor unions, including MLK Labor, a Seattle-based AFL-CIO affiliate that’s on WAISN’s steering committee, which advises the nonprofit. MLK Labor only learned about WAISN retaining the law firm from The Stranger’s inquiry. “MLK Labor supports every worker’s right to organize and form a union at every employer, no exceptions. Workplace democracy is a foundational workers’ right,” said Katie Garrow, MLK Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer. “Your email was the first I heard that WAISN hired Davis Grimm.

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