For 26 years, residents in Los Angeles who dialed 911 to report an emergency might have found Jeanetta Adams on the other end of the line. Jeanetta began her career with the city of Los Angeles as a clerk-typist in November 1973. She was quickly promoted and five years later she was promoted again to a police service representative, or 911 operator.
Years earlier, Jeanetta started spending her evenings talking to her co-workers about the benefits of joining a union to achieve equal pay, better working conditions, pensions and a more secure future. Her motivation was simple: she was a single mother and wanted to be able to put away some money so she could send her daughter to college. In 1985, Jeanetta and her co-workers finally won pay equity adjustments from the city of Los Angeles. The $12 million pay adjustment that she and her union, AFSCME, helped secure brought the pay for female-dominated job classifications in line with the male-dominated job classifications. For Jeanetta and the other clerical workers, this meant a 10 to 15 percent pay increase and the ability to have a more secure working life and retirement…