Historical Origins of Contractualism

Collective Negotiation in Spain during the first half of XXth Century

Abstract

Collective Bargaining is a Sociological term related with institutionalized agreements between employers —or employers´organizations— and trade unions, and opposited to conflict. Its meaning of social agreement, or social harmony, in the Welfare State context, can be connected with democratic rules, political stability and social peace. But their origins were former, and they could explain, mainly, some keys of their meaning now.