Jill Ovens is a New Zealand Unionist and former political candidate.

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 CTU Women’s Council Convenor and attended the ICFTU World Women’s Conference as one of two CTU delegates.

Alliance Party

Ovens was an Alliance candidate in Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

's Mount Albert electorate

Mount Albert (New Zealand electorate)

Mount Albert is a Parliamentary electorate in Auckland, New Zealand, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It has been represented by David Shearer since a by-election on 13 June 2009. It was represented by Helen Clark from the 1981 general election until...

 in the 1999 elections

New Zealand general election, 1999

The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance...

 and the 2002 elections

New Zealand general election, 2002

The 2002 New Zealand general election was held on 27 July 2002 to determine the composition of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the reelection of Helen Clark's Labour Party government, as well as the worst-ever performance by the opposition National Party.Arguably the most controversial...

, both times contesting the seat against Labour leader Helen Clark

Helen Clark

Helen Elizabeth Clark, ONZ is a New Zealand political figure who was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008...

. On the party list, she was ranked 28th and 12th, respectively.
Ovens became president of the Alliance

Alliance (New Zealand political party)

The Alliance is a left-wing political party in New Zealand. It was formed in 1991, and was influential in the 1990s, but has since declined and has no representation in parliament. It suffered a major setback after Jim Anderton, the party's leader, left the party in 2002, taking several of the...

 party in 2004. She had previously been critical of the party's leader, Matt McCarten

Matt McCarten

Matthew "Matt" McCarten is a New Zealand political organiser. He has been involved with several leftist or centre-left political parties, and is also active in the trade-union movement...

, for his close associations with the Maori Party

Maori Party

The Māori Party, a political party in New Zealand, was formed on 7 July 2004. The Party is guided by eight constitutional "kaupapa", or Party objectives. Tariana Turia formed the Māori Party after resigning from the Labour Party where she had been a Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour-led...

.
For the 2005 elections

New Zealand general election, 2005

The 2005 New Zealand general election held on 17 September 2005 determined the composition of the 48th New Zealand Parliament. No party won a majority in the unicameral House of Representatives, but the Labour Party of Prime Minister Helen Clark secured two more seats than nearest rival, the...

 she unsuccessfully contested the Manukau East

Manukau East

Manukau East is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate.It is currently held by Ross Robertson MP.-Suburbs:In 2007, large changes were made to the Manukau East electorate. Its northern boundary extended past the Tāmaki River to almost as far as Sylvia Park Rd to incorporate Middlemore, Otahuhu and...

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

Labour Party

In 2006 she resigned as co-leader and left the Alliance party. After being elected the northern secretary of the Service and Food Workers' Union, she decided to join the Labour Party

New Zealand Labour Party

The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....

as it is affiliated with the Union.