Matt McCarten - Citizendia

Matthew "Matt" McCarten (born 1959) is a New Zealand political organiser. The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island He has been involved with several leftist or centre-left political parties, and is also active in the trade union movement. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming

McCarten was originally a member of the Labour Party, but grew dissatisfied with the party's direction under Minister of Finance Roger Douglas. The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party The Minister of Finance is a senior figure within the Government of New Zealand. Sir Roger Owen Douglas (born 5 December 1937) a New Zealand politician formerly served as a senior Cabinet minister Douglas was a strong promoter of free market economics and deregulation, which McCarten and others saw as a betrayal of Labour's roots. A free market is a Market in which property rights are voluntarily exchanged at a price arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers Deregulation, a term which gained widespread currency in the period 1970-2000 can be seen as a process by which governments remove reduce or simplify Restrictions on Business Eventually, one of Labour's MPs, Jim Anderton, broke away to found NewLabour, and McCarten became the president of the new organisation. James Patrick Anderton, usually known as Jim Anderton (born 21 January 1938) is leader of the Progressive Party, a Political party NewLabour Party logo NewLabour was the name chosen by Jim Anderton, NewLabour later joined with several other parties to form the Alliance — McCarten became president of this new party as well. The Alliance, in New Zealand politics, is a Left-wing political party

After the 1999 elections, the Alliance became the junior partner in a coalition government with Labour (which had now moved away from its program of economic reforms). The 1999 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 46th session of the New Zealand Parliament. However, some members of the Alliance, including McCarten, felt that too many concessions had been made to the more centrist Labour, and that the Alliance was abandoning its left-wing principles. Eventually, a rift developed between McCarten (serving as the Alliance's organisational leader) and Jim Anderton (serving as its political leader) — the party's governing Council backed McCarten, but most of its MPs backed Anderton. According to some, there was also a strong clash of personalities — both McCarten and Anderton have been accused by opponents of being controlling and autocratic.

McCarten has often been described as divisive and self-serving and this episode did him no credit. After a long and bitter dispute, Anderton and his supporters left the Alliance to found the Progressive Party, leaving McCarten's faction in control of the Alliance. The Progressive Party is a Political party in New Zealand. It is presently the junior partner in the governing coalition being somewhat to the left of

The Alliance, now led politically by Laila Harré, suffered heavily in the 2002 elections, losing all representation in Parliament. Laila Jane Harré is a New Zealand politician and trade unionist. The 2002 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. The following year, McCarten himself assumed the political leadership from Harré. He was compelled to resign this position in November 2004, however, after becoming increasingly involved with campaign work for the new Maori Party. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The Māori Party, a Political party in New Zealand based around Māori citizens formed around Tariana Turia, a former Labour Party McCarten believed that the Alliance and the Maori Party were compatible, and that they should not regard each other as rivals, but this view was not shared by the members of either group. McCarten chose to leave the Alliance to focus on the Maori Party.

In early 2005, however, McCarten ended his association with the Maori Party as well, amid reports he was wanting to found a new working class based party. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In early 2005 Matt McCarten gained a mandate from the Unite Union to take its leadership as secretary. The Unite Union (Unite is a Trade union in New Zealand. It is the sponsor of the Supersizemypay Since then the Unite Union has won significant victories organising workers in New Zealand's secondary labour market (the working poor). Its most significant victory came out of the "supersizemypay. com" campaign, in which it negotiated a collective agreement covering the 7,000 employees of Restaurant Brands Ltd (Starbucks, KFC and Pizza Hutt). It continues to expand its coverage of low paid workers in the fast food, call centre, security, hotel and hospitality industries, particularly in Auckland.

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