Aussie miners told ‘death’ only excuse for not working on Christmas

Miners who don’t show up to work the Christmas and New Year period at Sandfire Resources’ DeGrussa copper and gold mine in Western Australia, are being threatened with major fines and pay cuts, reports The West.

According to the memo distributed to Australian Contract Mining staff, an employee’s only acceptable excuse not to turn up was “death,” which “must be accompanied with a coroner’s report to confirm this.”

The document, signed by ACM’s site manager and posted on site, said fly-in, fly-out workers would be fined flight and accommodation costs and risk being put on a lower pay grade if they failed to show up for work.

Preliminary findings from a Murdoch University study released yesterday found many FIFO workers did not believe their employers cared about their wellbeing and they did not feel valued. And last month, a study led by Australia’s Griffith University showed shift miners working long hours are more likely to suffer from depression, fatigue and a wide range of illnesses.

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