Serving the Interests of Apprentices and Young Employees
High turnout in Election of RWTH’s Youths and Apprentice Representation JAV
Over the last few years, JAV, the representative body of the University’s apprentices, has achieved to further raise its profile: This year, almost half of all apprentices and young employees participated in the election of the members of the representative body for the new term of office.
At RWTH, JAV represents the interests and concerns of their fellow apprentices: "We provide assistance when they have problems, the atmosphere at work is not positive for some reason, or an apprentice is unclear about their rights. It is important that we are there for them,” explains newly elected chair of JAV, Jan Büßenschütt, a product designer at the Institute for Combustion Technology ITV.
Moreover, as RWTH is the largest provider of vocational training in the Aachen region and has more than 300 instructors, JAV wants to act as a point of contact for the University as well. Moreover, there is close cooperation between JAV and the RWTH Staff Council.
Büßenschütt’s deputy is Jaqueline Sänger, who is currently completing her training as an assistant for office management at the Chair for Energy Efficient Buildings and Indoor Climate. Second deputy is Simon Maul, industrial mechanic at the Chair of Technical Thermodynamics. JAV consists of 19 members, 13 regular members and 6 substitute members.
Improved Visibility
It is the declared goal of JAV to become even better known among the University’s apprentices. “We need to show that we exist. Of course we do not want that any problems arise during vocational training. But in case that problems come up, we want the apprentices to contact us,” says Büßenschütt.
JAV, whose activities are in accordance with the Employee Representation Act, is part of the RWTH Staff Council. Members are elected for a two-year term in office. Eligible to vote are all apprentices as well as employees under 18 years of age. Eligible to be elected are all apprentices and employees under 27 years of age.