Auckland

On April 28, up to 8000 people marched in Auckland against the threatened sell-off of public assets by New Zealand National Party Prime Minister John Key. A few days earlier, a Hikoi (walk) began from Cape Reinga in the far north of New Zealand's north island, headed for the capital, Wellington. Arriving in Auckland in time to coincide with the event, participants in the Hikoi marched from Victoria Park to Britomart, where they met up with the assembling protest. The crowd then made its way up Queen Street to Aotearoa Square.

The Occupy Auckland general assembly released this “Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Australia” on October 24. * * * From the General Assembly of Occupy Auckland, New Zealand In session, the 24th day of October, 2011 Madam Prime Minister, Respectfully, we the assembled citizens, residents and supporters of the Auckland Occupation wish to convey to you our deepest disappointment in the recent repression by Australian police of the peaceful demonstrators in Melbourne’s City Square and Sydney's Martin Place.

In a daring and audacious move, Matt McCarten, General Secretary of the Unite Union, announced his candidacy in the Mana By Election in Wellington earlier today.

Labour history was made when New Zealand had its first shopping mall workers strike on May 25. Workers in JB Hi-Fi in Albany, organised by the militant Unite union, went on strike for better pay and against a culture of bullying and intimidation against union members.

The Unite union is New Zealand’s newest trade union and one of its most dynamic.

On February 4, Auckland’s Tamil community held a demonstration against the Sri Lankan Army’s (SLA) massive onslaught the Tamil people in the north of Sri Lanka. The day is Sri Lanka’s independence day.

On May 31, a picket of 50 people organised by Solidarity Unity protested outside the offices of Mighty River Power, which supplies electricity to Mercury Energy, the company responsible for the death of an Auckland woman on May 29.

The second Workers Charter conference, held at the Auckland Trades Hall on October 7, drew a broad cross-section of the New Zealand union movement and its supporters. The Workers Charter, launched 15 months ago, is a draft list of 10 demands aimed at guaranteeing workers’ rights. Its demands cover rights such as a living wage, affordable housing and the right to strike.

Provisional results from New Zealand's September 17 parliamentary election suggest that the Labour government of Prime Minister Helen Clark has narrowly won a third term in office.

As the Tongan civil service strike entered its sixth week, New Zealand trade unionists, the expatriate Tongan community, social justice activists and church groups are organising support and solidarity.

More than 20,000 people marched against war on Iraq on February 15 in more than 20 cities and towns around New Zealand.

A Maori protest hikoi (march) against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment is sending shock waves through official circles in New Zealand.