In 1973 library and clerical workers on university and college campuses across British Columbia began organizing as a union in order to represent their collective interests. Workers at University of British Columbia (Local 1), Simon Fraser University (Local 2), Notre Dame University of Nelson (Local 3), Capilano College (Local 4), College of New Caledonia (Local 5), and the Teaching Support Staff at S.F.U. (Local 6) organized over the next two years to collectively form the provincial wide and independent union, the Association of University and College Employees (AUCE).

Association of University and College Employees. Communications (2 of 2), 1980.

AUCE 1 was the first union in Canada to negotiate maternity leave benefits, a historic win for Canadians across the country and still a leave provision that is envied by many countries around the world. Over the next decade AUCE also fought for fair wages, transparent job classifications, child care, and a discrimination-free workplace for people of all genders, sexualities, races, and ethnicities.

Association of University and College Employees. [Provincial Bargaining Strategies conference records], 1982.

The recently launched AUCE Fonds digital collection is a project that was undertaken with the support of CUPE 2950 – Clerical, Library and Theatre Workers at the University of British Columbia and the British Columbia History Digitization Program. With the project having finished its first year, the AUCE Fonds project has made available 13,000 pages of more than 3,100 digital objects and digitization is continuing into the second year of the project.

Association of University and College Employees. Cap Communicator (vol. 2, no. 3), 1977.

In 1987, AUCE members voted to become a chartered local union of the CUPE, CUPE Local 2950. They are an operating local chapter today and is one of the first trade unions in the province to make its records freely available. The digitized materials include newsletters, meeting minutes, correspondence, collective agreements, and ephemera and will appeal to researchers in labour studies, women’s studies, political science, economics, and sociology.

Association of University and College Employees. [Organizing new locals], 1981.

Explore the collection through the following themes:

• ​Executive
• Advocacy and Bargaining
• Committees
• AUCE Local Chapters
• Publications and Ephemera
• Correspondence and related material

Materials are still being digitized and added to the collection.

For more information on the project and to view the growing collection, please visit https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/auce. Due to copyright and privacy concerns, some items have been redacted and others have not been digitized. Please visit the RBSC finding aid to explore the fonds in full.