It's 4:30 a.m., and Ana Taveras is starting her day by flying up the New Jersey Turnpike, likely above the speed limit, to reach the local office of a laborers' union some 75 miles north. There, she officially begins a day of shuttling to meetings and construction sites as a regional labor organizing coordinator.
Hopefully, says the single mom of two teenage daughters, she will make it home by 9 p.m. Hard work and long days don't bother Taveras, who grew up on a farm in the Dominican Republic and entered the U.S. at age 14 speaking no English. However, she is bothered by a lack of respect from those she encounters in the industry.