A Once Great Country Being Ruined For Most, page-24

"Business will have to compete for labour before wages will rise again."

Right but this is a two way street. The more staff want the more they have to give. I was running a business and had a lot of staff then, all of a sudden, I had to pay them more when they were on holidays than when they were at work. I answered that by reducing staff to compensate. There was no alternative.
I was happy to pay extra above the award where workers were giving that little bit extra because they earned it. I usually paid everyone above the award to avoid "demarcation disputes" on the understanding that we reverted to award rates if there was a dispute or a strike. I once overheard a new starter asking what the boss was like and the reply was "hard but fair". Too many people look at the company they work for as the enemy.
Often I noticed that the best workers left the JOB at knock off time while the worst ones had showered and were driving out the gate as the whistle blew. The most valuable employees referred to "our product", "our company", etc. They talked about how can "we" beat the opposition. How can "we" improve the product. The worst usually ended up working for the opposition. ( At times when they were still on our payroll.)