VIVO Media Arts Centre Archive > Eileen Tallman Sufrin

Eileen Tallman Sufrin

Born Blanche Eileen Tallman in Montreal, Quebec (1913-1999). She was raised in Toronto where her father worked as a travelling salesman. After graduating head of her class from Vaughan Road Collegiate, she eschewed university, instead joining other unemployed activists in the Co-operative Commonwealth Youth Movement. When her father died in 1938, her mother took an underpaid job at Eaton’s to raise her three children. That experience would inform her organizing effort on behalf of Eaton workers (1948-1952), one of the longest organizing campaigns in Canadian labour history. Eileen spent 19 years organizing women in union movements in Ontario and BC, unionizing 15,000 women. She met her husband, Bernard “Bert” Sufrin (1916-1995) while working at the Saskatchewan government finance office. Bert was an economist and fellow CCF worker. They moved to Ottawa in 1964 where Bert worked for the Labour Department of the Women’s Bureau. They retired to White Rock, BC, by 1972, where she was active in the NDP and founded a local branch of the Choice of Dying Society. Eileen received many honours over her lifetime including a Governor-General’s medal on the 50th anniversary of women winning the right to vote.

Audio interview [1978]

Description

Sufrin discusses how she became interested in trade unions as a CCF youth activist during the Depression; organizing with the Co-operative Commonwealth Youth Movement’s trade union committee in Ontario; the unsuccessful 1940-41 national organizing of the banks; organizing for the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), coming to Vancouver in 1943 to train officers of the union and initiate “steel” the union’s western press; political struggles with the Labour-Progressive Party leadership in the unions; working for a CCF perspective in the labour movement; activities on the Vancouver and District Labour Council; organizing Eaton’s 9600-person; en workforce in Ontario; issues important to women including equal pay and job classification, unionization, job ghettos, childcare, and maternity; encouraing women to be active union members and officers.

Transcription

Full transcription: Tallman, Eileen
Edited by Subject: Tallman, Eileen (edited)

Title: [Eileen Tallman Sufrin – 1/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Sufrin, Eileen Tallman

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1978-08

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_668_sideA_01

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: Simon Fraser University Archives. Sara Diamond fonds

Rights: Media provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use of this media must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Title: [Eileen Tallman Sufrin – 2/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Sufrin, Eileen Tallman

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1978-08

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_668_sideB_01

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: Simon Fraser University Archives. Sara Diamond fonds

Rights: Media provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use of this media must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Title: [Eileen Tallman Sufrin – 3/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Sufrin, Eileen Tallman

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1978-08

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_669_sideA_01

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: Simon Fraser University Archives. Sara Diamond fonds

Rights: Media provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use of this media must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Title: [Eileen Tallman Sufrin – 4/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Sufrin, Eileen Tallman

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1978-08

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_669_sideB_01

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: Simon Fraser University Archives. Sara Diamond fonds

Rights: Media provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use of this media must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Video Interview [1987]

Description: Eileen Sufrin discusses changes in employment and the status of women from the prewar period, through World War II, and into the postwar period.

Title: [Eileen Sufrin – 1/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Sufrin, Eileen

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1989-05

Type: Moving Image

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 Betacam videocassette

Format: video/mp4

Language: English

Identifier: SD_WLHP_363

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: The VIVO Media Arts Centre. Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives. Sara Diamond fonds.

Rights: Videos provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these videos must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Description: Eileen Sufrin discusses reasons for organizing, and attitudes towards unions during the war. She also discusses her personal reasons for becoming involved in the labour movement, her activity with the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, moving from Ontario to British Columbia, and factionalization within the labour movement.

Title: [Eileen Sufrin – 2/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Sufrin, Eileen

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1989-05

Type: Moving Image

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 Betacam videocassette

Format: video/mp4

Language: English

Identifier: SD_WLHP_334

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: The VIVO Media Arts Centre. Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives. Sara Diamond fonds.

Rights: Videos provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these videos must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Description: Eileen Sufrin continues her discussion of factionalization within the labour movement, and the union’s involvement in women’s issues. She discusses the types of women in the workforce, and the differing needs of these groups (married women as opposed to single women, for example). Finally, she discusses white collar unionism and organizing department stores, touching upon her experience organizing Eatons in Toronto.

Title: [Eileen Sufrin – 3/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Sufrin, Eileen

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1989-05

Type: Moving Image

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 Betacam videocassette

Format: video/mp4

Language: English

Identifier: SD_WLHP_364

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: The VIVO Media Arts Centre. Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives. Sara Diamond fonds.

Rights: Videos provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these videos must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Description: Eileen Sufrin discusses women’s issues in unions, her experience as a woman being involved with union work. She also discusses her experiences organizing Eatons in Toronto, as well as the end of her labour career.

Title: [Eileen Sufrin – 4/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Sufrin, Eileen

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1989-05

Type: Moving Image

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 Betacam videocassette

Format: video/mp4

Language: English

Identifier: SD_WLHP_365

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: The VIVO Media Arts Centre. Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives. Sara Diamond fonds.

Rights: Videos provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these videos must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.