Oral history interview with Jean A. Eilers
Scope and Contents
This oral history interview with Jean Eilers was conducted by Carolyn Matthews from August 10 to December 4, 2011. The interview was conducted as part of the Oregon Labor Oral History Program, which collects oral histories of individuals who have advocated for working people of Oregon, including public figures, union members, and workers. The interview was conducted in eight sessions. Robert Byrne and Michela Byrne were also interviewed in session eight. In this interview, Eilers discusses joining the Society of the Holy Child Jesus convent in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, teaching at Catholic schools from 1962 to 1976, and her reasons for leaving the convent in 1981. She speaks about her involvement with labor organizing in California with the United Farm Workers, and in Oregon with AFSCME, OPEU Local 503, and SEIU Local 49. She then talks about serving as the state director of the AFL-CIO and discusses Jobs with Justice; speaks about union negotiations at Kaiser Permanente, Xerox, and the Oregon Department of Transportation, as well as her involvement with the campaign to unionize the employees of Providence hospitals. She also talks about Occupy Portland.
Dates
- 2011 August 10-December 4
Creator
- Eilers, Jean A. (Jean Anne), 1940- (Interviewee, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Session 5 and portions of session 7 are restricted until 2032. The transcript and digitized audio files have been redacted to reflect the restriction. The remainder of the interview is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Biographical note
Jean Anne Eilers was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1940. She attended Seattle University for one year before joining the Society of the Holy Child Jesus convent in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, in 1959. She taught at Catholic schools from 1962 to 1976. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Immaculate Heart College and studied for a master’s degree at California State University, Los Angeles. In 1981, she left the convent. The next year, she and Robert Byrne were married; they later had one child. She was a labor paralegal and organizer for United Farm Workers from 1976 to 1981; an organizer for SEIU Local 49 and SEIU Local 503 OPEU, retiring in 2010; and state director of the AFL-CIO from 1994 to 2005.
Extent
0.1 Cubic Feet (12 audiocassettes (9 hr., 41 min., 54 sec.) + transcript (206 pages))
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Oral history interview with Jean A. Eilers conducted by Carolyn Matthews from August 10 to December 4, 2011, as part of the Oregon Labor Oral History Program. Eilers discusses her involvement with union organizing in California and in Portland, Oregon.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Oregon Labor Oral History Program, December 2011 (Lib. Acc. 28380).
Existence and Location of Copies
General
Forms part of the Oregon Labor Oral History Program (OLOHP).
- AFL-CIO
- Byrne, Bob (Robert N.), 1940-
- Byrne, Michela E. (Michela Eilers), 1983-
- Catholics -- Oregon
- Chavez, Cesar, 1927-1993
- Eilers, Jean A. (Jean Anne), 1940-
- Hospitals -- Employees -- Labor Unions -- Organizing -- Oregon -- Portland
- Labor History
- Labor Unions
- Labor unions -- Oregon -- Portland
- Labor unions -- Organizing
- Nuns -- Oregon
- Occupy Portland (Movement)
- Oral Histories
- Oregon
- Service Employees International Union. Local 49 (Portland, Or.)
- Service Employees International Union. Local 503, Oregon Public Employees Union
- United Farm Workers
- interviews
- oral histories (literary genre)
Creator
- Eilers, Jean A. (Jean Anne), 1940- (Interviewee, Person)
- Byrne, Bob (Robert N.), 1940- (Interviewee, Person)
- Byrne, Michela E. (Michela Eilers), 1983- (Interviewee, Person)
- Matthews, Carolyn K. (Carolyn Kay), 1944- (Interviewer, Person)
- Title
- Guide to the oral history interview with Jean A. Eilers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Sarah Stroman
- Date
- 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English.
- Sponsor
- Digitization of this interview was funded by Forward! Digital Vault and the gifts to the general oral history fund.
Repository Details
Part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library Repository
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland OR 97205 United States
5033065204
5033065240
libreference@ohs.org