Unite Union leader joins Mana by-election race

Matt McCarten, the leader of the Unite Union and the New Zealand Herald's token left-wing columnist, is standing in the by-election being held in Mana, a working class electorate north of New Zealand's capital, Wellington. McCarten is basing his campaign around raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour- a long standing Unite policy- abolishing goods and services tax (GST) which was raised last month, and creating 3000 new jobs in Mana. Those jobs would come from creating teacher aide positions in public schools, training unemployed in building trades to repair and upgrade state houses, and state funded home help for the sick and elderly. According to his campaign website:

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My candidature will give the people of Mana strong alternatives that roll back the failed ideology of the past 25 years.

I intend to run a strong aggressive campaign and put the two main candidates under pressure to work for their votes and ask them to respond to my three platforms. Whilst I will target National (as the villains, of course) Labour also has to engage in meaningful debate rather than generalisations.

McCarten is unconcerned by suggestions that he will 'split the left vote' “If I were Labour that's the message I would run. That works for the core bases but it doesn't work for most people. It's a pretty bankrupt position.” Voter turnout in Mana at the last general election was 83%, slightly higher than the national average, but no doubt there are many people dissatisfied with the larger parties looking for an alternative. While he is running as an independent, he has been endorsed by the executive of Unite and by the Alliance Party, of which he is a former president.