The collection comprises the California records of the Building Service Employees International Union (BSEIU), later known as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and contains the predecessor records for Local 24/7 and Local 44. The records document the union's involvement in many local and state-wide political campaigns, elections, and BSEIU conventions. Also included are membership materials, contracts and logbooks for the Window Cleaners Union Local 44, various union and non-union publications, and grievance arbitration materials.

The bulk of the collection comprises material produced between 1950 and 1970 when the BSEIU was under the leadership of George Hardy, Secretary-Treasurer, Vice President, and later President of the BSEIU. Material from this period highlights the union's involvement in civil rights through its support of organizations such as the Council on Political Education (COPE), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the San Francisco Branch of the NAACP, and the Bay Area Committee for Bogalusa.

Publication materials in the collection consist of local union bulletins, newsletters, and newspaper clippings from union and non-union publications, including: San Francisco Labor News; California AFL-CIO News; AFL-CIO News; Cascade Labor News; Oregon Labor News; The Los Angeles Times; El Malcriado; Service Union Reporter; The Washington Service Employee; Union News BSE; and East Bay Labor Journal. Photographs in the collection consist primarily of Mayor Alioto.

The bulk of documents dated 1989 to 2007 record grievance cases and arbitration proceedings by SEIU Local 1877 and the labor law firm Van Bourg, Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld (now Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld) on behalf of various union members.