Chairman of the Czech-Vietnam Association Marcel Winter has vehemently condemned a Czech official for slandering the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic.

Chairman of the Czech-Vietnam Association Marcel Winter at a press conference on foreign workers in the Czech Republic (Photo: VNA)

On the association’s website and in letters sent to Czech newspapers on December 4, Winter refuted biased views of Josef Stredula, President of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (CMKOS), who told CT24 TV Channel that Vietnamese people who came to work in the Czech Republic from 2007-2009 were involved in illegal activities.

Winter also pointed out the unfounded evidence in Stredula’s statements that said those people harmed the Czech Republic’s interests.

He stressed that the CMKOS President’s opinions slandered and offended more than 15,000 Vietnamese people legally living and working in the Czech Republic during that period.

Additionally, Stredula’s viewpoint may also hurt the Czech Republic’s economy since it can hamper the admission of foreign workers into this country, leading to a manpower shortage in local businesses, he added.

According to Winter, many Vietnamese people working overseas have affirmed their role in famous universities in the US, Europe, Japan and the Republic of Korea, or even at the US’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Industrious and skillful Vietnamese workers are always respected at their workplaces, including factories in the Czech Republic.

He emphasised his viewpoint of protecting the honour of Vietnamese workers, as well as Vietnamese people in the Czech Republic, adding that CMKOS President Stredula must apologise the Vietnamese people and Government for those distortions.

Winter told Vietnam News Agency correspondents that the Czech Republic’s labour market lacks about 140,000 workers, and this has seriously affected production activities. Czech factories need skillful Vietnamese workers./.