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What is the Stagiaire Association?

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What is the Stagiaire Association?

The European Parliament has two associations which work to represent the interests of the stagiaires of the European Parliament. One is the European Parliament's Trainee Association which works exclusively on behalf of the Secretariat trainees; the other is the European Parliament's Stagiaire Association which attempts to represent the interests of all stagiaires regardless of who they work for.

The European Parliament's Stagiaire Association is a forum where all stagiaires (regardless of who they work for, and how long they are in the Parliament) can meet, interact, express individual concerns, network, and work on the improvement of working conditions.

The associations are the only organisations within the European Parliament led by stagiaires and for stagiaires.
How old is the Stagiaire Association?

The European Parliament's Stagiaire Association is a new initiative founded in January 2007 at a Plenary Meeting organised by the then founding steering committee.

It has since held monthly plenary meetings and elected its first steering committee in March.

Originally, the initiative was led by the office of Michael Cashman MEP. Philip Pike and Kim L. Smouter, Michael Cashman's stagiaires at the time, proposed to fellow stagiaires a plan to form a Stagiaire Association that would work in spheres of common interest and concern of the stagiaires.

In the original proposal, the stagiaire association was proposed as a forum that would work on the improvement of the working conditions of all stagiaires, along with the social lives and induction for all stagiaires.
Why was a Stagiaire Association necessary?

The European Parliament's stagiaires are all well aware of the privilege to be a stagiaire within the European Parliament, nonetheless, many stagiaires have at some point or other experienced unacceptable situations or forced to do work that should be done by salaried employees fully protected by EU labour laws.

Further, unlike the European Commission, the European Parliament's stagiaires had extremely flimsy support structures. Whether a stagiaire simply had the need to meet other stagiaires, to go and have drinks with fellow stagiaires, etc... the European Parliament had nothing officially in place to organise these events.

And finally, many stagiaires are thrown into the European Parliament with little introduction to the place. The Parliament's physical locales are huge, understanding how Parliament works, how to find things, etc. and to do so with little assistance from anyone, we believed, not only made the Parliament even scarier than it already was for a new stagiaire, but it also made that each new stagiaire lost time trying to reinvent the wheel.

It is for these reasons that our Stagiare Association was formed, and that our Stagiaire Association exists.
What is the Association's mission?

The European Parliament's Stagiaire Association approved at its first Plenary Session the mission statement found in the "Proposal to Create a Stagiaires Association." In this document, the Association's mission is three-fold: firstly, it has certain political objectives as regards to the working conditions of all stagiaires, secondly it has a social role as regards to the organisation of social events for its members, and thirdly it has a information-provider role as regards to improving the induction of new stagiaires to the day-to-day life of the European Parliament.

Our mission statement thus reflects these different objectives and sets the long-term work plan that shapes our association. Likewise, the entire organisational structure of the Stagiaire Association further reflects our attention to these three spheres of work.

We, the stagiaires of the European Parliament, agree to form a Stagiaires Association to represent us in the European Parliament and to give us a voice in the democratic House of the European Union.

A. The Stagiaires Association aims to improve the working conditions of all stagiaires in particular as regards to:

Access to Parliament facilities
Working hours
Pay
Contract

B. The Stagiaires Association aims to improve the social opportunities of all stagiaires in particular as regards to:

Social networking events for stagiaires to meet
A welcoming meeting of stagiaires during each term
The organisation of a regular forum for stagiaires to express their concerns

C. The Stagiaires Association aims to improve the induction of all stagiaires in particular as regards to:

Informative documentation with regards to Who does what, where is this, etc
Ensuring each stagiaire is given an induction by their office
A welcoming meeting where old stagiaires answer new stagiaires' questions

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