Politically-motivated attack on union office after Camobell Live report

Following on from yesterday’s report

Unite Union's office robbed, trashed

The Unite Union's Auckland offices have been robbed and ransacked in a vicious attack that some are speculating could be politically motivated.

TV3,

17 April, 2015

The robbery happened on Wednesday night at the union's Kingsland offices.

It is believed the offenders broke in through a window at the front of the property.

"All the files were rifled through, all of our electronic equipment was taken," says Unite's Joe Carola.

Filing boxes were upturned, papers thrown everywhere, and thousands of dollars' worth of camera equipment, laptops and TVs were stolen.

Mr Carolan also had his credit card taken in what he describes as "a big attack on a small, little union".

"They took all the projectors, the flat screen and everything."

But it wasn't just electronic valuables that were taken – perks for the union's members, like movie tickets and supermarket vouchers, were also stolen.

"Any locked doors were kicked in, they stole quite a lot of benefits that we negotiated for workers," says Mr Carola.

Unite has recently been the centre of media attention over its fight to get rid of zero-hour contracts. The contracts are mostly used in the fast-food industry, and mean employers can hire staff without guaranteeing certain hours.

"A lot of people are speculating that it's very unusual that would happen to us at this moment in time, where we have a bit of a profile in the media for some of the campaign work we've been doing for zero hours," says Mr Carolan. "It's a bit of a weird one."

Mr Carolan says he's since spoken to people who believe the union has recently made a lot of "wealthy", "dangerous enemies".

"I would hope that it's just some unfortunate criminal who's just being opportunistic," he says.

Since the attack, support from other unions has poured in, and Mr Carolan says there's been a lot of solidarity from other groups.

"This is an organisation that's trying to help low-paid people, help poor people," he says.

The biggest blow was the loss of the union's camera and video Бequipment.

"Some of the equipment that was taken, in particular the computer equipment and the camera – we had a high-end camera – but it contains all our interviews and video footage that we use for social media communication.

"We rely a lot on social media to stay in contact with low-paid workers.

"All our video and stuff that was on that is one."

Police were at the scene yesterday and detectives have taken finger prints.

"Some people have said that when there were break-ins that were politically motivated before, that they would take the other things that robbers would like, like your money, but that the real goal was to get the information," says Mr Carola.

"It's not a nice experience but it certainly wouldn't deter anyone here from doing what we're doing."

While the union's got a big clean-up job ahead, Mr Carolan says they will continue to operate.

Campbell Live continues to do good work

Who owns New Zealand's water?

Who owns our water? The official line from the Government is no one.

That's been made very clear lately as the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet ministers have been in closed-door discussions with iwi leaders about water rights.

In our regions, there's growing demand for water, with more intensive farming, changing weather patterns and overseas demand for our superior drinking water.

Hawke's Bay in particular is really feeling that. On top of water restrictions over dry summers, Chinese-owned bottling plants are about to send ships full of local water to China.

Watch the video for Whena Owen's full report.

To watch video GO HERE