The British Hospitality Association claims that it will take hotels and restaurants 10 years to replace their EU migrant workers (Report, 11 March), and Pret a Manger asserts that British workers wouldn’t do the job even if the sandwich chain paid more (Report, 9 March) – though I doubt if it has tested that or would want to. Yet you report an anonymous British employee talking of stress and overwork that had left him close to tears, a symptom of undermanning. In other words, uncontrolled EU migration allows an employer to pay low wages and treat staff unreasonably in pursuit of profit. And unquestioning support for migration is assumed to be part of a progressive political position?
Christopher Clayton
Chester
• You ask why British people don’t want to work in Pret a Manger. In Brighton the hospitality industry employs a high proportion of foreign workers. I would suggest that they have everything to gain from working here for a while, as they have the possibility of escape. The bonuses are learning English and the potential for sending money home to their family. For a British person there are unaffordable rents and absolutely no future. The hours are exhausting and the pressure tremendous. Besides, many employers in the hospitality industry prefer to employ foreign workers.
Anne Williams
Hove, East Sussex
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