She retired in 1981, but spent her career advocating for unions by pushing for equal pay and treatment from the Big Five in Hawaii.
[3] At age 17, McElrath went to a burlesque theater to hear Upton Sinclair, a famed muckraker, give a speech on poverty.
[3] While enrolled in the University of Hawaiʻi, Ah Quon McElrath joined the leftist Interprofessional Association and met Communist Party USA leader Jack Hall, who was the head of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 142.
[6] In 1981, she served on the board of a civil rights advocacy organization founded by Hawaii defense attorney David Schutter.
[9] McElrath received an honorary doctorate from the University in 1988[10] and the UH Founders Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.