File contains material from Local 5 (College of New Caledonia) dated June 9, 1976 to October 7, 1981. Records include news bulletins, executive committee list, incoming correspondence, press clippings and report. Topics include constitution violations, discliplinary action, relations with non-teaching staff, contract negotiations, and strike action.

File contains material from Local 5 (College of New Caledonia) related to secession from AUCE and affiliation with the Confederation of Canadian Unions, dated April 30, 1981 to July 8, 1982. Records include incoming and outgoing correspondence, notice of appointment of scrutiner, AUCE News (Special 9th Annual Convention Edition, June 1982), agenda and minutes of Provincial executive meeting dated October 24, 1981, signed petition, ballot, and completed questionnaires.

File contains incoming and outgoing correspondence dated June 13, 1984 to December 31, 1984. Topics discussed include union representatives and representation, support of other unions and causes, legal counsel, union assessments, relations and negotiations with UBC, labour studies educational courses, status of women, the New Democratic Party, breast cancer screening, autism, contract proposals, life insurance, research grant to support projects on the management of technological change in the workforce, UBC's financial position, Operation Solidarity, staff vacancy notice, committee meetings, and contract interpretation.

File contains incoming and outgoing correspondence dated January 5, 1984 to December 13, 1984. Topics include support of other unions and causes, human rights legislation, union nominations, office space, pension plans and employee benefits, provincial budget, union representatives and representation, maternity benefits, status of women, relations with UBC, budget cuts, Operation Solidarity, the New Democratic Party, arbitration, membership meetings, affiliation with CUPE, word processing job standard, Local 1 finances, Chilean political imprisonments, membership meeting agendas and minutes, solidarity in Poland, contract negotiations, use of non-union construction firms, union dues and taxes, employee pay rates, labour studies educational courses, union pin collection, flex time questionnaire, and grievances with UBC.

File contains incoming and outgoing correspondence dated April 1, 1985 to October 2, 1985. Topics include labour studies education and scholarships, advertisements for services and products, calls for civic engagement (cuts to social services, services for unemployed people, teacher's increment wage system, elections, Downtown Eastside evictions due to Expo 86, Supreme Court of Canada legislation, nuclear power, pensions), secession from AUCE and merger with CUPE, cooperation and coordination with other unions, union representatives and representation, CUPE official policy, financial restraint at UBC, women in the workplace, rights of women, status of women, job classification, Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Expo 86, UBC financial audit, smoking in the workplace, and labour relations with UBC.

The collection contains materials related to Ian McDonald's Master's thesis research on the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 213 “Class conflict and political factionalism: a history of Local 213 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 1901-1961," and related to the activities of his father, Les McDonald, a trade union activist who belonged to Local 213 but was eventually suspended for leading the Lenkurt strike of 1966. Les McDonald was also a multi-sport athlete, and is credited with introducing the triathlon into the Olympics; some materials in the collection relate to Les McDonald's involvement in various sport and environmental organizations, as well as some of his personal papers. In addition to what he received from his father, Ian McDonald was also given papers by former IBEW Local 213 business manager Art O’Keeffe and Barry Sharbo, a board member of the Canadian Union of Electrical Workers (UE), as well as Alfie Huston, the former President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213 from 1985-1988, which are included within the collection.

The collection is largely comprised of newspaper and photocopied journal articles, correspondence between members of IBEW Local 213, legal documentation, newsletters and other printed ephemera related to IBEW Local 213.

The collection also contains sound recordings of interviews with numerous figures in IBEW Local 213 created by Ian McDonald during his thesis research. McDonald's thesis, submitted for the completion of a Master of Arts in History at Simon Fraser University, can be found in the Summit database: http://summit.sfu.ca/item/6361.

The collection also contains background materials accumulated by McDonald while writing his book “The Red Baron of IBEW 213,” including digital sound recordings of interviews, research articles, notebooks, consent forms, a draft royalty agreement, a draft chapter and a press marketing questionnaire.