Petition to the Traineeships Office - Why?

Dear EPSA Community,
 
Some Stagiaires have asked for more information on the petition we are asking you to sign.
 Beginning two boards ago, EPSA began to represent political as well as Schuman trainees.
Until one week before the October elections at which the current board was put in place, the traineeships office was completely ok with this.
At the end of September, the traineeships office made a U-Turn on its position, and now considers the representation of political trainees to be a problem. As such they will no longer engage with EPSA.
 
Why is this an issue?

1. We strongly believe that all Stagiaires, regardless of being Schuman or political trainees, deserve the same representation.
2. We are working with the idea of establishing a distinct representative body for political trainees, however, this will be pursued only if the traineeships office truly will not cooperate with us because of the status of political trainees in EPSA.
3. At the same time, the idea of political trainees being a problem is new. EPSA has sought internalisation within the European Parliament [Turning EPSA into an Stagiaires' organisation like the one at the Commission] for some time. This has not happened for a number of reasons.
4. Political Trainees cannot now be the only reason why the traineeships office doesn't want to work with us.
5. With the current attitude of the traineeships office, this has meant that a number of people have lost out on opportunities [i.e. the language courses], because of the traineeships office being unwilling to provide us with the email addresses of the Stagiaires.
6. At the same time, they have stated that the liaison trainees are the only people that can contact all the Stagiaires, but have also told the liaison trainees not to work with us. This is extremely hypocritical as the introduction of liaison trainees as a way to bridge the gap between Traineeship Periods was an EPSA idea in the first place.

 
Why do we want you to sign the petition?

1. On Friday, 11th November, we have a meeting with the representative of the traineeships office to discuss the status of EPSA. This meeting is with Mr Pierre-Antoine Barthélémy, Head of the Contract Staff and Accredited Parliamentary Assistants Recruitment Unit.
2. Should the traineeships office still decide to work against us, despite proposing the separation of the political trainees, we intend to continue representing political trainees as a part of EPSA.
3. We would like your support in signing the petition, to help us have a bigger voice with the traineeships office.
4. EPSA works to help Stagiaires make the most out of their time in Brussels, running events including language classes and careers fairs.
5. The decision of the  traineeships office to cease working with EPSA denies Stagiaires access to these events and results in a diminished experience for Stagiaires at the European Parliament.
6. We as a board cannot work to the best of our abilities when even our most basic requirements are not supported.
7. In effect, the traineeships office is working against the interests of Stagiaires.

 
We hope that this encourages you to sign the petition, and help us do our best to represent all Stagiaires.

You can sign the petition here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/EPSA-Petition

Sherbaz Ahmed, EPSA President.