Marianna Costa, of Haledon, New Jersey, a retired textile union official, grew up in a neighborhood close to several weaving plants, and began working in a dye house in 1932. She recalls the long hours her mother put in at her job at National Dye and Printing, in East Paterson, and her father put in as a construction worker: “My mother left for work at 6:30 and she didn't come back until six at night. It was a long day between transportation and a ten-hour work day. She was away almost twelve hours. [My father] would leave at about seven, and he was out doing construction . . . . And he would get back by five--an hour before she did because of the transportation. He had a bicycle, so he was able to do better time. And she had to walk to a bus and walk the distance back home.”, of Haledon, New Jersey, a retired textile union official, grew up in a neighborhood close to several weaving plants, and began working in a dye house in 1932. She recalls the long hours her mother put in at her job at National Dye and Printing, in East Paterson, and her father put in as a construction worker: “My mother left for work at 6:30 and she didn't come back until six at night. It was a long day between transportation and a ten-hour work day. She was away almost twelve hours. [My father] would leave at about seven, and he was out doing construction . . . . And he would get back by five--an hour before she did because of the transportation. He had a bicycle, so he was able to do better time. And she had to walk to a bus and walk the distance back home.” 

Marianna Costa
One linear foot of AFSCME papers and convention material.