To think Employers should pay more/ improve working conditions if they can’t get the staff?

[Badbudgeter]

A former employer of mine was in the paper recently doing a sad face article as he can’t get staff to work in his hotel. Especially cleaners/ housekeeping. He’s been dependant on foreign workers for years, they sign contracts from abroad and live in worker accommodation and often feel a bit stuck for the season.

I’ve worked there and staff are often overworked in really hot bedrooms and discouraged from taking breaks as there is no time due to a lack of cleaning staff.

There are lots of other hotels locally. They don’t seem to have the same problems recruiting as they pay more/ let people have breaks/ do a staff lunch type stuff.

AIBU if people from Eastern Europe are willing to come over and do jobs locals won’t then they should despite poor working conditions.

YANBU employers shouldn’t seek to undercut the local market by bringing in cheap labour.

YANBU but of course this only works if the customers are willing to pay increased prices to enable the staff to be paid more/have breaks etc. If the market won't stand higher prices then the business will probably end up going bust. If the market accepts the higher prices then that's fine, but that drives up inflation and a year later the staff are still functionally under-paid because although their wages went up by 5%, with an inflation rate of 8% they are actually still poorer.

tbh I think the main issue is that the wheels are coming off on the whole structure of modern western capitalism and one hotel owner in a sadface newspaper article can't do much about that.