Early Career
As a graduate student, Crowley was in the GEO, the Graduate Employee Organization, the student worker unions that emerged on college campuses during the 1990s. GEO was affiliated with the United Auto Workers union and was known for its militancy during Crowley's tenure as president. In 1997 the union members and students occupied a University administration building, where Crowley told the The Valley Advocate newspaper during the occupation:
"In broad terms, when it comes to workers, it really is 'us' and 'them,'" Crowley said. "And by pushing for things like child care and affirmative action, which usually aren't in union contracts, we're making the 'us' a little bigger. ... To include black people, to include gays and lesbians, is taking the labor movement to the next step."
After leaving University, Crowley took a position with the Teamsters Union in Boston, Massachusetts. He participated in the 1997 national UPS strike. Crowley was involved in several more mass picket strikes and demonstrations as the militancy of the American Labor movement increased in the face of the rise of neo-liberalism.
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