The series contains records pertaining to the AUCE’s efforts to advocate for their members and bargain as a collective unit. Record types include agendas, minutes, and dockets of the Annual Conventions and Special Conventions held by AUCE, agenda and minutes of the meetings of the General Membership, contracts documenting the collective agreements between the workers and employers, and records of conferences, strikes, working conditions, news releases, as well as training records on stewardship, bargaining, striking and picketing.
While many of the records relate directly to equal pay, increased benefits, and cost-of-living increases, the advocacy and bargaining efforts of the union also changed in response to the changing provincial government and University of British Columbia administrative measures.
With the 1983 election and the introduction of the Social Credit Government, the union worked with other labor organizations throughout the province, forming the province-wide Solidarity Coalition to resist the conservative measures being proposed through legislation. The records also reflect the related efforts to defeat Bill 19, introduced by Bill Vander Zalm in 1987, which directly affected labour unions and their right to strike.
The union also directly opposed choices made by the UBC administration including a decision to bring in Ritchie & Associates, a management consulting firm to assess efficiency in the workplace, as well as budget cut-backs. This resulted in the formation of the UBC. Campus Community Alliance. These and other specific efforts are documented in the series.