In total, we are nine workers. On the one hand, the Álava Robot Technician ART is composed of the five members that make up the cooperative and on the other, by four workers hired by the company. I am one of them. In the last five years ART has managed municipal rocodromes. Each year the City Hall makes a tender, and so far only the ART has been submitted. In short, the climbing industry is small. In recent years we have worked on the Hegoalde and Ariznabarra rocodromes, and now the City Hall had to open the third in Salburua, after an investment of 130,000 euros and one year late.

However, their subsidy is not adapted to the new situation. In other words, it is not proportional. ART wants to offer a quality service, keep the wages of the workers and not raise the income, and the conditions of the City Hall do not allow it. ART asks for a bigger budget for the Rocodromes, but the City Hall has shown no intention. As a result, it has not been submitted to the call and the rocodromes have been temporarily closed.

In early 2019, the City Hall is obliged to make a new tender, and you will have to see what position it takes then. We do not give it a good impression. The City Hall has no negotiating attitude and is suspected of wanting to eliminate ART. If there is no change, ART will not be presented, and then public officials will have three options: extend the subsidy, find a private company they like, or privatise the facilities further. For us, the first is the only valid solution, but it seems that the City Hall wants to completely change the management model.

If you accept the offer you have put on the table, the conditions could worsen considerably. And I'm not just talking about money, I'm talking about time. In fact, the schedule would be reduced. With the conditions we have had so far, we were able to perform proper maintenance and provide quality service to people. Users had the opportunity to scale quietly, and that's in jeopardy now, because if the number of hours is reduced, people would accumulate.

To make rocodromes viable, our bet is to offer a proper service. So, users are at ease and attract more people. If you don't guarantee it, rocodromes lose meaning. In recent years we have attracted many people, offering many courses and a broad schedule. Last year, for example, we had over 1,000 users.

The workers have climbed several emblematic places of the city, as a protest. We organized climbing championships there [in the photo]. In a way, we have continued to offer the service and to denounce this unfair situation. The users, for their part, have occupied the rocodromes for three or four hours, among some 300 people, and have held meetings at the premises.

We have managed the rocodromes in a social way, and the users thank us very much. They also believe that the situation is unfair. You know the City Hall has abandoned climbing. For some sports it always has money, but not for climbing. And we're not asking for impossible numbers.