Mercy started her public life as a trade unionist in the beginning of 1980s. she worked among fisherfolk both in state and national level. She was one of the national secretaries of National Fish Workers Forum and the national convenor of its women wing. In 1996, along with others, she found Kerala Sthree Vedi. She became district and state convener of the same. At present she is the programme co-ordinator of Sakhi Women Resource Centre. National Alliance of Women facilitated her as the ‘Brave Women of India’ in 2000. She was awarded Aseema Bhasker Award for social work in 2010 and Puthuppalli Raghavan award in 2018.
