As El Marco de Jerez entered the decade of the fifties not a voice could be heard. The whole region was covered by the misty silence of Francoism. Outside of the vineyards, there was nowhere for the workers to meet, until it occurred to them that the Vertical Syndicate itself was a proper place to sit and talk; and from there it was but a small step to the thought that by seeking a more permanent place in the Syndicate they might gain some small benefit for themselves and their companions. Until that moment, although the Syndicate had been present in the region, it had not even fulfilled its own operational norms. The economic sections of the employers had simply packed the social sections of the workers with men they knew they could manipulate, and when it became time to negotiate a new contract these men were called together to rubber-stamp the new agreement.