"The aim of this article is to analyse the concept of governability of collective bargaining proposed by Traxler, Blaschke and Kittel (2001) and to demonstrate its explanatory capacity and limitations in the Spanish case. Governability is an important subject that should be taken into account in the reform of industrial relations systems and in the debate with regard to centralisation and decentralisation of collective bargaining in Europe. The authors' main hypothesis is drawn up in line with the institutionalist approach. Their argument, based on the results of collective bargaining, is that the Spanish system of collective bargaining, in spite of the organisational weakness of the unions and of the employers' associations, is governable thanks to the role of the state, the institutions, the legal ordering, as well as tradition and custom."

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