Trade unionists lead Alliance List
Trade unionists dominate the Alliance Party List for this year’s General Election.
The Party’s two co-leaders and number one and two on the Alliance List are Party President and Auckland union organiser
Jill Ovens, who is contesting the Manukau East seat in South Auckland, and local government union organiser Paul Piesse,
from Christchurch.
Ms Ovens, who represents low-paid workers in her union work as a senior organiser for the Service and Food Workers
Union, says it is time working people had a share in the much heralded economic prosperity.
“Economists talk about increases in productivity, but these have come on the backs of workers. The constant
restructuring of the past 21 years has meant only that workers have to work harder and to work longer hours in insecure
jobs to make ends meet.”
She says unemployment may have dropped, but far too many jobs are part-time or casual, and the gap between rich and poor
has widened significantly.
Mr Piesse was a public servant for 10 years and has spent the rest of his working life as a union organiser. He was
secretary of the Stores/Packers Union which amalgamated into the National Distribution Union where he stayed another
three years before going to work for the Southern Local Government Union 14 years ago.
He says it is time to put the “public” back into the public service.
“The free market has failed the vast majority of New Zealanders. The provision of services such as electricity, water,
rail, buses and shipping, health and education should not be subject to market mechanisms. The basic economic
infrastructure must be collectively owned and democratically controlled to act in the interests of all people, as
opposed to corporate interests.”
Alliance General Secretary Andrew McKenzie, is third on the List. He is a Christchurch barrister who specialises in
employment law, predominantly on behalf of unions and employees.
Mr McKenzie was a candidate for “Health Cuts Hurt”, a community ticket that contested the District Health Board
elections in Christchurch in 2004. He is standing for the Alliance in Banks Peninsula in the 2005 General Election.
Julie Fairey, an Auckland field officer for the primary teachers’ union, NZEI, is fourth on the List. She was a student
activist at Auckland University Students Association, where she was the campaign co-ordinator, welfare officer and
national affairs officer.
Ms Fairey is the Alliance Council secretary and a member of the Alliance Secretariat. She is a List-only candidate in
2005.
Next on the List is Kane O’Connell, who grew up on the South Island’s West Coast amidst struggles against mass
unemployment, benefit cuts, income disparity and user pays in the 1980s and 1990s. He says it was only natural that he
joined the Alliance at 17.
Mr O’Connell, a Wellington-based research officer with the New Zealand University Students’ Association, became involved
in the opposition to student fees, means-tested allowances and student debt as a member of the Christchurch College of
Education Students’ Association executive. He is standing for the Alliance in 2005 in the Wellington Central electorate.
Len Richards, sixth on the List, taught at South Auckland's Nga Tapuwae College for 18 years and was active in the PPTA
(Post Primary Teachers Association). During these years, he used to sell political newspapers outside the Otahuhu
Railway Workshops and through his connection with the railway workers, he became interested in how they organised
themselves.
“The struggle of workers for control over their lives begins in their workplace. My research has shown that the workers
exercised a large amount of control, both informally and through their unions, despite their managers.”
He says this highlights the need for workplaces to be organised along democratic lines. Mr Richards is the Alliance
candidate for the South Auckland seat of Mangere.
Before his arrival in New Zealand in1963, Jim Flynn, number 7 on the List, was active in the US Socialist Party and the
Black protest movement in the American South at the time of Martin Luther King.
The Otago University Professor Emeritus became active in the anti-nuclear movement and advised Norman Kirk on foreign
policy. Mr Flynn was a founding member of the New Labour Party and the Alliance, and he advises the Alliance on
designing a fair and progressive income tax as well as policies to restore excellence to the New Zealand university
system.
His academic research concerns how to promote social justice. He is author of five books, most recently "How to Defend
Humane Ideals", which has been praised for its treatment of problems of class and race.
Eighth on the List is Victor Billot, who first became involved in politics as a founding member of the New Labour Party
in 1989 as a teenager. He has worked on every electoral campaign since that time for the Party and has been an active
member with a number of branches. He is standing for the Alliance in 2005 in Dunedin North.
Mr Billot is currently employed as the communications manager for the Maritime Union of New Zealand, based in Dunedin.
Previous jobs have included Waterfront Workers' Union campaign organiser and National Distribution Union publicity
officer. He is also co-director of a Dunedin publicity agency managed by his partner, working on high profile local
events.
Alliance Otaki candidate Margaret Jeune is next on the List. She is an early childhood educator and part-time secretary
for the Zero Waste Focus Group (Horowhenua District Council).
Ms Jeune is a solo parent of two teenage sons and an adult daughter. She is the acting president of the Levin branch of
the National Council of Women, the acting chairperson of the Horowhenua Unemployed and Beneficiaries Centre, and a
weekend receptionist at the Horowhenua SPCA. She has also served on the Waiopehu College Board of Trustees and on the
Otaki Community Board.
Bob van Ruyssevelt, of West Auckland, has been self-employed as a cleaning contractor, bread vendor, aluminium
door/window installer and courier. He is now a truck driver.
Mr van Ruyssevelt was convenor of the British organisation campaigning for the withdrawal of British troops in Ireland,
and was a founder member of the Auckland Vietnam Society. He was also a founder member of the H Block/Armagh Committee
which supported the Irish Republican Movement from New Zealand. He is a member of Amnesty International.
He was a founding member of the NLP and stood for both the NLP and the Alliance several times. In 2005 he is standing
for the Alliance in the Te Atatu seat.
Others on the Alliance List include…
11 Tom Dowie, Christchurch (Wigram candidate)
12 Chris Ford, Dunedin (Dunedin South candidate)
13 Quentin Findlay, Christchurch (Ilam candidate)
14 Kelly Buchanan, Wellington (Mana candidate)
15 Joe Hendren, Christchurch
16 Gail Marmont, Dunedin
17 Paul Protheroe, Auckland (Manurewa candidate)
18 Greg Kleis, Christchurch (Kaikoura candidate)
19 Sandra Ethell, Auckland (Waitakere candidate)
20 Colin Pounder, Christchurch
21 Bob Harrison, Dunedin
22 Peta Knibb, Christchurch
23 Marvin Hubbard, Dunedin
24 Francie Haslemore, Christchurch
25 Norman MacRitchie, Oamaru
26 Eric Gamble, Christchurch
27 Lynda Boyd, Christchurch (Christchurch East candidate)
28 Jocelyn Brooks, Wellington (Rongotai candidate)
29 Nick Corlett, Papakura
30 Nick Scullin, Christchurch