'Anti-scab' Website angers Ansett management

By Jason Collie

The war between Ansett New Zealand and its pilots has hit cyberspace, with staff keeping the airline flying named and pictured on an "anti-scab" Website.

Ansett, 10 days into locking out 140 of its pilots over a contract dispute, has asked the Website server to disconnect the site, but last night it was still available.

The site, titled Welcome to the Ansett NZ Pilots Home Page, names 13 pilots who are either management who have returned to the cockpit or pilots who have signed the new contract and kept the airline in the air during the lock-out.

It also lists what appears to be chief executive Kevin Doddrell's e-mail address, and has two photographs showing three of the pilots at work. Definitions of the word scab are also given.

Airline Pilots Association spokesman Adam Nicholson said last night that the union had nothing to do with the Website.

An Ansett spokesman said the company did not know who had created the site, but had asked the Internet provider to pull the plug on it.

He confirmed the names were correct, but added there were others also flying for Ansett.

"The company is very concerned that someone has put that material out there," he said. "It does nothing to resolve the issues. We have expressed our concerns, but that is about as far as we can go."

Mr Nicholson said the association had not seen and knew nothing about the Website.

Ansett locked out 140 pilots after they refused to sign a new contract which would make 35 of them redundant and the rest fly longer hours, saving the airline $4.7 million a year.

The company, which has cut almost two-thirds of its flights during the school holidays since the lockout, is aiming to add a few more flights to its main routes next week.