U.S.A.
Everyone Else
Health
Science
Business
Technology
Sports
Video Games
Entertainment
Future
Humour
NEWS > BUSINESS > TRAPPED CHILEAN MINERS A NUISANCE FOR MINING COMPANY
TRAPPED CHILEAN MINERS A NUISANCE FOR MINING COMPANY
August 3 2010
Santiago, Chile – For most people the thought of being trapped deep under the surface of the Earth, away from fresh air and any semblance of safety, knowing that your world could collapse on you at any moment, is something to run away from. Men 
and women have been doing just that for centuries however, providing essential services to the development of the modern world. Mining has a long and tragic history, but it is a history upon which much of the modern world has been based.
In fact, mining is probably more important now that it ever has been. Precious metals and elements like Uranium are acquired through deep mining. Our cars and our computers are made of the spoils of mining and they are essential in our day-to-day lives. The lives of miners though are often an afterthought, something relegated to a less sophisticated age but they are still essential even if we would prefer to forget them as they toil deep under the Earth’s crust. That is apparently what a Chilean mining company has decided to do with 33 miners who have been trapped in a collapsed mine for nearly a month. Offering no help and refusing to pay the workers, the company has made massive savings and may provide a model for future mine disasters.
“San Esteban has not made any effort in this recovery effort at all. They have refused to pay salaries for the trapped miners and have done nothing to help in the rescue effort. This is a part of a series of events from this company which has prided itself on cutting costs in favour of the safety of the workers,” said Union representative Luis Carbona. “We demand the company starts to pay these workers and to use their resources to help recover them. This is totally unacceptable behaviour and cannot be tolerated. This would not be tolerated in any other country and we demand that the government step in and force the company to behave responsibly.”
The men have been trapped in the cave since August 5 and survived the first seventeen days without any outside contact.
“This is a very simple case. These men are not working and so they will not be paid. It is a matter of simple economics. We get paid for the material they mine and we then in turn pay them with those proceeds. They are not producing any material so we have no money to pay them. We have requested that because they are down there that they keep working but the union has protested this and that leaves us with no options,” said a San Esteban spokesperson. “Once they are back on the surface and we have everything cleaned up then we will discuss putting them back on the payroll. It is not a sure thing however because it is clear that these men were in the security shelter rather than working and we will have to take a hard look at that situation to determine things like work ethic.”
The men now have the dubious honour of being trapped in a mine longer than anyone else in history and are expected to extend that streak for a few weeks more.
“Companies are always trying to cut corners and this is likely one more example of that but you never know. Generally in these types of collapses many men die because they are working in the field but these men seem to all be safe and sound and hardly even dirty which makes one suspect that they weren’t working all that hard to begin with,” said Scrape TV Business analyst Ken Green. “You’d be hard pressed to prove that the company deliberately blew the mine in order to deal with lazy workers but it is certainly a possibility. I’m sure the company just wants all of this over one way or the other at this point.”
At least one of the men was reportedly seeking another job at the time of the accident.
William Ashford, Business Correspondent
NEWS > BUSINESS > TRAPPED CHILEAN MINERS A NUISANCE FOR MINING COMPANY
LINK IT! http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Business/pages-5/Trapped-Chilean-miners-a-nuisance-for-mining-company-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html |
TWEET IT! http://bit.ly/9H0cdZ |
BOOKMARK IT!  
|
|---|
Scrape Store
