Research focusing on Vietnamese workers: export of labour from Vietnam, Vietnamese workers employed by job agencies and their working and living conditions, nature of exploitation, Vietnamese workers at the time of economic crisis.

In this research, La Strada is focusing on Vietnamese workers, and in particular on the export of labour from Vietnam, Vietnamese workers employed by job agencies and their working and living conditions, nature of exploitation, Vietnamese workers at the time of economic crisis.

MOTTO: „…living in this country we should abide by its laws, but workers have to abide by the laws of intermediaries. “

According to the researchers, the Vietnamese started to assume workers positions mainly in the area of electronic equipment production and in car manufacturing. “We would need tens to hundreds of people from Vietnam. They are good workers and historically, we have had a very good experience with them,” a member of the Board of Directors of an important Czech producer told the media (2007, p. 30). The Vietnamese reacted promptly to the demand of a number of Czech businesses; according to official statistics in August 2007 there were 45,964 Vietnamese in the CR, August 2008 the Vietnamese population had gone up to 57,660.12. The overwhelming majority of these newcomers have travelled from Vietnam to the CR in order to work in factories.

According to La Strada, the Czech electronics sector is dominated by two big corporations, Panasonic and Foxconn. Both companies employ Vietnamese and Mongolian workers, either directly or through employment agencies.