The Courier Post reported on July 25 that a former FIFO miner in Australia who had worked for a major mining company had exposed a "terrible loophole" that forced him and many others to resign and nearly bankrupt him.
The abrupt closure of the mining area where Martin and 150 of his colleagues work forced them to scramble for other jobs to make ends meet.
Many people who have found work at sister mines owned by the same company consider themselves lucky but don't realize that the nightmare has just begun.
They were reassigned to other mining areas across Australia, and Martin was relocated to Western Australia, nearly 3,500 kilometres from his home.
But on each shift, he was forced to pay for interstate flights out of his own pocket.
Martin, who has two children, told News Corp Australia: "It's about $1,000 a way, just for a job that pays less than that. We were completely trapped. ”
Martin travels back and forth between Perth and Queensland, working in the mines for two weeks and taking a week off, meaning he spends up to $3,000 a month on airfares alone, the equivalent of many people's mortgages.
After calculating how much he could actually take home after all the extras, he lamented, "If I had worked at Hungry Jack's, I might have made even more." ”
In April last year, Martin worked at the Queensland Inland Capricorn Copper mine, where severe flooding occurred, with 1.5 billion litres of flood water flowing through the mine, equivalent to the amount of water in 600 Olympic swimming pools. The mine was shut down for several months to clear up stagnant water before resuming normal operations.
But in March this year, another round of heavy rainfall hit Capricorn Copper again, and the mine has since been closed indefinitely, which is undoubtedly a hammer hammer for workers.
"No one can give an answer, not even the foreman and the project manager." This prompted him to seek reassignment.
Capricorn Copper矿区
Martin, who is in his 30s, is employed by Byrnecut, a mining labour company that has partnerships with two other tenements in South Australia and Western Australia.
There are no problems with miners who are transferred to South Australia, but it is a different story for Martin and others assigned to WA.
"Generally speaking, under the FIFO system, the airfare is paid for by the company or negotiated in the contract at the time of onboarding, because the point of employment is where you should fly and depart," he explained. ”
However, due to redeployment, and the workers' desperate desire to keep their jobs, this negotiation never took place, and they ended up having to pay for it themselves.
"Those who were not able to be transferred to South Australia were told to either take a job in WA and pay for their own airfare, or quit and find another job." Many of them end up choosing the latter, he said.
澳洲新闻集团已联系Byrnecut请其置评。
Capricorn Copper矿区的一块"墓碑"
"I know some people quit after one shift because they couldn't afford it," Martin said, "and there are also people who move to WA to live." ”
However, for Martin, the sole breadwinner of the family, moving to Western Australia was not an option, leaving him with the high cost of airfare.
He tried to persevere because he had been with Byrnecut for many years and did not want to pass up the opportunity to receive a long-service award.
But for him and many others still living in Queensland, it quickly became untenable.
An email sent by Martin's employer, 29M, to the employee.
"For a lot of people, travel time is a nightmare," Martin says. ”
Many of his colleagues live in Townsville and Cairns and need to take a short flight to Brisbane, then a five-hour flight to Perth and a charter flight to the mine.
"I had to pay more than $1,000 for airfares per shift, and the journey time was almost 12 hours, including getting to and from the airport, waiting for take-off at the terminal, and getting to and from the mine, as well as dealing with a two-hour time difference," he explains.
"That means that by the time I got off work, it was 7:30 p.m. and my kids were asleep."
Flights to Perth were especially expensive for the young father, as he couldn't even book in advance.
"In the mining industry, duty schedules change a lot. When circumstances may change, it can be difficult to book your ticket in advance to get a cheaper price, or you'll have to pay a change fee. ”
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