Jill Ovens is a New Zealand trade unionist and former political candidate. She was co-leader of the

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

party before changing her allegiance to the Labour Party. She is currently the Women's Rights Party National Secretary, a New Zealand based political party.

Union leader

She previously had a long history involved in New Zealand Unions, having served as the president of the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education and was heavily involved in the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) Women's Council Convenor and attended the ICFTU World Women's Conference as one of two CTU delegates.

Alliance Party

Ovens was an

candidate in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

's Mount Albert electorate in the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and the 2002 elections, both times contesting the seat against Labour leader

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

. On the party list, she was ranked 28th and 12th, respectively. Ovens became president of the Alliance party in 2004. She had previously been critical of the party's leader,

Matt McCarten Matthew McCarten (born 11 February 1959) is a New Zealand political organiser and trade unionist, of Ngāpuhi descent. McCarten was active with several trade unions including the Hotel and Hospital Workers' Union, the Unite Union, and the One U ...

, for his close associations with the

Māori Party Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

. For the 2005 election she unsuccessfully contested the

Manukau East Manukau East was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate that returned one member of parliament to the House of Representatives. It was first formed for the . Between the and the 2020 electorate adjustment it was held by Jenny Salesa, a member ...

electorate and was ranked first on the party list, having been elected a co-leader with

Paul Piesse Paul Egerton Piesse is a former co-leader of the Alliance, a New Zealand political party, and union activist. Biography Piesse has been heavily involved in the union movement, and has held a number of senior organisational roles. He was original ...

Labour Party

In 2006 she resigned as co-leader and left the Alliance party. After being elected the northern secretary of the

Service & Food Workers Union The Service & Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota (SFWU) was a trade union in New Zealand. It was affiliated with the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and the New Zealand Labour Party. The SFWU was organised into five industry sectors: *Age Ca ...

in succession to

Darien Fenton Darien Elizabeth Fenton (born 25 February 1954) is a New Zealand politician and was a Member of Parliament from until her retirement in 2014. Personal life and early career Fenton's grandfather, Fred Frost, was a Labour MP for New Plymouth ...

, she decided to join the Labour Party as it is affiliated with the Union. She is a former Auckland/Northland regional representative on the Labour Party's Council.

Current activities

Since her election to the SFWU Ovens has been occasionally blogging on left wing social media websites and supporting union activities primarily based in Auckland. In December 2014 Ovens helped lead a walkout of food service workers at Auckland City Hospital. In 2021 Ovens submitted her opposition of the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill, a Bill that sought to ban the practice of

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cli ...

in New Zealand.

Women's Rights Party

In 2023 Ovens resigned from the Labour Party to found the Women's Rights Party, of which she is national secretary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ovens, Jill Alliance (New Zealand political party) politicians NewLabour Party (New Zealand) politicians New Zealand left-wing activists Leaders of political parties in New Zealand Living people Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand Labour Party politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 1999 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2002 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2005 New Zealand general election 21st-century New Zealand politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians