Advocating for workers in the construction industry

Elizabeth Crowley has been settling into her job as CEO of the Building Trades Employers’ Association for almost a couple of years since leaving public office. Fortunately, the former City Council member joined the BTEA, New York’s largest contractor organization also serving as an advocate for construction safety standards, already with on-the-job experience.

As a young single mother, Crowley got her start in construction as a decorative painter, working with District Council 9 on restoration work at Radio City Music Hall, Central Synagogue and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Crowley, who comes from a family heavily involved in public service, later served on the Council, representing the 30th District in Queens from 2009 to 2017. Her crowning achievement was co-founding the nonprofit 21 in 21, now known as The New Majority NYC, which brought gender parity to the governing body and led to the first female majority in its history. Her time on the council ended when Republican Robert Holden won her seat in 2017. She later left politics after two failed runs for Queens borough president and one for state Senate. Her cousin is former Rep. Joseph Crowley.

Crowley, who took over for Lou Coletti at the BTEA after he ended his 26-year tenure leading the organization in 2023, arrived as its first woman leader. She recently sat down with City & State to discuss how she’s grown to embrace the BTEA and its advocacy work, and for a look back at the career journey that got her there.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

It’s already been almost two years since you became the president of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, taking over from your predecessor Lou Coletti, who had a very visible profile during his lengthy tenure.

That’s right, I started in July 2023, but two months before that, Lou and I worked together on a transition, which was very helpful. So it’s been the better part of two years. I love Lou. I’m extremely happy. I love the industry. I have always had an affinity toward the industry right out of school as a young person, working as a restorative painter on construction sites, and then really learning more and more about the other trades and just how much of an integral part of the fabric of New York City the construction industry is. 

How has that transition been coming along?

In this past year and a half, I’ve gotten to know our contractors, who are the big builders and small builders. They’re general contractors, construction managers, subcontractors, specialty trades and MWBEs. We have 1,200 contractors, so it’s a huge group. I’ve been doing my best to get to know as many of our contractors and get to know what their concerns are.

What was it like for you when you first got involved in the construction industry?

I was a young mom. When I had my job in construction, I had to get up very early in the morning, make sure I had child care before getting to Manhattan to get to the job sites, and I loved the jobs that I could work extra hours on, since I would make time-and-a-half.

And what was it like being a woman in the industry? You are the first woman to lead the BTEA. What has that been like for you?

Well, you’re right. I am a woman. I’ve been a woman my whole life, and actually was raised by a single mom. My dad died when I was pretty young, and I had a lot of older sisters, which was a huge benefit to me, because I grew up with the support of strong women and

and my mother taught me that whenever you put your mind to something and you work hard, there are endless possibilities. So when I went to work on a construction site, there were a lot of times where I was the only woman working. And I didn’t think that there was anything odd about that, about me being there. What I did realize back then was that the industry needed more people like me, and so I got involved with the union, and I got involved with the political aspects of the union, and in an organic way, because I grew up in a political household.

Tell me more about your family life and how it prepared you for the work you do today.

My dad was a council member, but he passed away when I was 7. So I watched my mom raise a lot of us. I’m one of 15 kids. My mom, at the same time (raising us) was involved with the local school board. She was running for office back then and managing a small business where she had opened a child care business. My mother (also) was a teacher when I was young, working in the schools. So, I grew up in a household where my mother was very much a part of the community, and it was expected for us all to be a part of our community. (It was the same) when I got to the job site. I wanted to learn more about the community. The community was the union, and I would go to political action meetings, come back to my community where I lived, listening about what school needed to built, or who is was our council member? At the time, my cousin was a state Assembly member, so it was natural for me to get involved with the union. And then gradually I worked in worker education, and I got to then speak for Nontraditional Employment for Women, that’s a nonprofit for women, and share my own story of how I was a painter and how it was difficult to be a single mom and juggle, but you know, if it wasn’t for this job, I wouldn’t have been able to pay my rent. It was a good-paying job. It was a difficult job, but it was good, and it was fulfilling.

And this led to your career in politics?

So going back all the way to then, and getting involved in my community, being a young mom and having a council member at the time who was a Republican, who I thought was not representing the greater community, but just a few, I said, I need to get more involved locally here. And even then, I would have men tell me that I should not be trying to run for or get elected to office. I should be home with my children.

How has it been fitting into the BTEA as a woman leader?

So, it’s not unusual for me to come here now to a predominantly male industry and feel like I fit and that it’s comfortable for me to advocate on behalf of the contractors because I really believe in the industry. In the city of New York, working on luxury hotels and residential buildings, you should not have a situation where you have workers making less than a livable wage, and that’s really what happens, because the construction workers that are within a union are not getting rich by any means. They’re just being paid enough to support their family and to have benefits like health insurance and such.

Getting people of color into construction jobs has always been a top priority for the BTEA, right? Can you talk a little bit about some of the MWBE initiatives and other opportunities that have perhaps started or grown under your tenure?

Sure. So what the BTEA had already established was committees, and my predecessor, Lou  Coletti, started the MWBE Council. And we meet quarterly, and we work closely with people in various government agencies to make sure that (we get) their support in terms of jobs, and that’s really where we’re finding a lot of the opportunity (is), whether it’s in the School Construction Authority or the MTA. And our larger contractors that are not MWBE participate in the council, because a lot of times what they’ll do is they’ll be able to get a large project on a site. It could be public, or sometimes you have private companies like JPMorgan Chase, and they also have similar types of goals in terms of diversity on job sites. They work with our prime contractors, who sometimes might not be MWBE. They look for the prime contractor to come in and mentor and help give a portion of their work to a smaller contractor so they could work hand in hand and grow with the support of a larger contractor working on the same job site. We’re seeing goals met on some of these projects much greater than 30%. That’s the minimum the state looks to achieve, and so we’re really proud of that.

Do you miss politics?

I’m not that far from it. I look fondly back at the days when I was doing the people’s work as a public servant. I ran for office to give back and to be a part and help. When you have that opportunity there is only a limited amount of time. Council members are term limited, and I always knew that you only have a certain amount of time to make sure you do the most with the time that you have there and try to have the greatest impact. And so I always knew it was for a finite amount of time. … There was a time I tried to run for higher office – didn’t work out. The universe told me I should look for other opportunities to help and use my talents and couldn’t think of a better way to work for the people and for the city and the capacity that I am representing contractors through the work of the BTEA every day.

What do you think of the council race to replace Bob Holden?

I care about that seat, even because (from redistricting) that part of Glendale that I lived in for many years was cut out. But that’s not that important. I think that there’s a really strong candidate in there that I’ve made a contribution to, Dermot Smyth, who is working very hard. He has over 30 years experience in our schools, came to this country as an immigrant, really just looking for a better way, and I think he would do well for the district.