The butterfly effect in labor relations: the unforeseen repercussions of the introduction of collective agreements after 1958.

Abstract

Two events that occurred in 1958 are remarkable as a substrate for the issue that is analyzed in this article. One is the ratification process of 6 ILO conventions, which took place after the recent reincorporation of Spain to this tripartite international organization, and before which the Franco regime wanted to show an image of openness. The other is the start-up of the European Economic Community, which made it necessary to maximize the increase in productivity, linking it to wages, in order to maintain competitiveness abroad. The approval of the collective bargaining law in that year could respond to both objectives. But, in reality, a denatured collective bargaining was formally created, whose mediate purpose was to serve as an instrument under the control of the State to keep the growing labor conflict at bay. This study wants to demonstrate how, what originally began as a weakened collective bargaining, with little capacity for action, came to empower the labor movement and has maintained its influence on the structure of collective bargaining for decades.