Ellen Barber

Ellen Eliza Barber nee Goode (1898- ) was born in Eastham London, England. Ellen and her parents emigrated To Canada around 1907, and her other siblings following one year later. They farmed on the Prairies for two years, then sold it and moved to Medicine Hat in 1908.  In 1910 they moved to Powell River where her father worked in the mill. Her mother required a serious operation in 1911 which set the family back financially. Ellen quit school and started working on a switchboard at 14-years of age. Ellen was one of the first women active in the Vancouver Trades and Labour Congress and was involved in organizing the laundry and communication workers during the WWI period. She married John “Jake” Douglas Barber in 1943 at Vancouver’s Foresters Hall. Barber had been a high rigger, but following a 40 foot fall that caused serious injury and led to him being barred from the job, he returned to the logging camps as a first aid man. After John passed away in 1959, Ellen settled in North Vancouver.

Audio Interview [1979]

Description

The interview describes union organization during World War I; working conditions in the laundries; bargaining procedures; organizing the unions; the laundry strike and its defeat; the formation of the Minimum Wage Board; telephone workers’ strike; attitudes to women within the unions; work in the World War II war industry; post-war lay-offs of women workers; piecework; CCF involvement in the unions; her family’s roots and her decision to become a unionist; women’s suffrage and its affect on working women; oriental workers and parallel attitudes to women; the Shirtwaist and Laundryworkers’ International Union in the 1940’s; the streetcar strike of 1918; Depression use of female labour; the impact of the Russian Revolution on the labour movement; shipyard conditions; accidents in the laundries; women’s organizations in the 1930’s.

Transcription

Full interview: Barber, Ellen

 

Title: [Ellen Barber – 1/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Barber, Ellen

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

Date Created: 1979

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_614_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: [Ellen Barber- 2/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Barber, Ellen

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

Date Created: 1979

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_614_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: [Ellen Barber – 3/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Barber, Ellen

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

Date Created: 1979

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_615_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: [Ellen Barber – 4/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Barber, Ellen

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

Date Created: 1979

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_615_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.