Overview of the press conference (Photo: VNA)
The Czech-Vietnam Association was established 19 years ago, and one of its functions is to serve as a bridge between Czech enterprises and Vietnamese enterprises, as well as Czech enterprises and Vietnamese workers.
At the press conference, Marcel Winter, Chairman of the Czech-Vietnam Association, announced a report stating the Czech labour market lacks 140,000 workers and this directly affects to enterprises’ production and indirectly impacts the Czech economy.
However, Mr. Winter said that, the authorities of the Czech Republic seem to not care about this.
Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Smolek recently said on television that the Government of the Czech Republic didn’t want to receive a large number of workers from countries not belonging to the European Union (EU).
According to Mr. Winter, the appointment registration system for visa interview through the Internet of the Czech Republic’s Department of Foreign Affairs for foreign citizens has crippled Czech enterprises’ access to Vietnamese workers.
He confirmed that the trade union's worries about foreign workers, including Vietnamese workers, getting jobs of Czech people, are groundless.
At the press conference, Ms. Lydie Malcharkova, Head of the Department of Public Relations of Triola fashion firm, concurred with Mr. Winter’s opinion.
She said that her company needs to recruit some skilled tailors, but both Czech and Ukrainian workers don’t meet the requirements, while Vietnamese workers meet all criteria but face visa barriers.
Mr. Winter also announced a project of the Czech-Vietnam Association at the press conference titled "You help us and we will help you".
The Czech-Vietnam Association will cooperate with Vietnam to help Czech enterprises recruit, teach Czech and English languages and provide vocational training course for Vietnamese workers in accordance with the needs of Czech employers.
However, Czech enterprises must register as collective members of the Czech-Vietnam Association. To carry out the projects successfully and bring benefits to both Czech businesses and Vietnamese workers, it must have the goodwill of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic.
Earlier, on the sidelines of a conference on using Vietnamese technicians in the Czech market and the cooperation possibility in training, Deputy Head of the Lower House of the Czech Parliament Vojtech Filip said that in the 1980s, tens of thousands of Vietnamese workers worked and being apprentices in Czechoslovakia. They were appreciated by Czechoslovak enterprises by their diligence, hard work and skill.
Currently, Czech businesses have demand for recruiting qualified Vietnamese labourers, Czech’s educational establishments have ability to train high-tech human resources for Vietnam to use for some time in the Czech Republic and long-term use in Vietnam.
Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic Jiri Vanasek asserted that the unemployment rate of the country is 3.7%, and each vacant job has 3.3 available candidates.
However, there is still demand for foreign labour recruitment, but only for qualified technical personnel and focused on some sectors. Enterprises must give priority to recruit Czech and EU citizens.
Only after over a period of 30 days without finding Czech or EU candidates for the vacant job, enterprises are granted a quota of recruiting foreign workers by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
The hardest thing for Vietnamese workers is to register an appointment for visa interview and critical procedure for granting long-term visa of Czech’s Ministry of Home Affairs.
Mr. Ondrej Brychta, representative of the Department of Immigration and Refugee Policy under the Ministry of Home Affairs, said the Ministry of Home Affairs is drafting an amended immigration law to make it easier for Czech businesses and foreign workers to meet each others' demands.
However, the granting of visas for foreign workers will depend on combined activities between the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic./.