Several recent publications and a special issue of the International Journal of Human
Resource Management have addressed airline employment relations since deregulation.
In these, the crucial role of aircraft maintenance is largely unexamined. Human
Resource Management (HRM) prescriptions for airline success, particularly a
‘commitment’ model entailing increased trust and employee initiative, may be in
tension with the heavily regulated nature of the aircraft maintenance labour process.
The airline HRM literature with its emphasis on discretion-based definitions of skill sits
uneasily beside a safety literature that commonly stresses procedural compliance. Safe
aircraft maintenance depends on appropriate work organisation, along with utilisation
and development of maintenance workers’ skills and recognition of their collective
voice. Proposals to reshape or bypass any of these in the interest of cost containment
call for cautious evaluation. Although addressing international debates, we examine
these issues in the Australian context.