Lillie Petty was making minimum wage — $3.35 an hour — at a job feeding, bathing and dressing people unable to care for themselves when a union organizer knocked on her door in 1984.
She signed up as a founding member of Local 880 of the Service Employees International Union and became an organizer for the union, where her work helped boost hourly pay for home care workers to $16, according to Local 880.
