Bizarre loophole at Aussie mining company leads to workers quitting en masse

A former FIFO miner who worked at a major mining company is dishing on a horror loophole that drove him and many others to quit and nearly left him broke.

A former FIFO miner who worked at a major mining company is dishing on a horror loophole that drove him and many others to quit and nearly left him broke.

Martin* and his 150 colleagues thought the worst thing that could happen to them was the sudden closure of their site, leaving them scrambling to find other jobs to keep a roof over their heads.

Many believed they’d got lucky after landing gigs at sister mine sites run by the same company – but little did they realise their nightmare was just beginning.

They were redeployed to other mines across Australia. Martin ended up at a Western Australian mine – almost 3500kms away from his home – where he was forced to pay for his own interstate flights to get him to work every swing.

“It worked out to be about $1000 each way, just to have a job that paid less,” the father-of-two told news.com.au. “We’ve been royally f***ed over.”

Martin worked a swing cycle of two weeks on at the mine site, and one week off, travelling to Perth and back to his home in Queensland, meaning that he was spending up to $3000 a month on flights alone – the price of many people’s mortgages.

Calculating how much he was actually taking home after all the extra expenses, he lamented: “We would have got paid more if we went to work at Hungry Jack’s”.

Martin’s mine shut was closed indefinitely due to flooding, but there was where the real nightmare began. Picture: Supplied

In April last year, the mine Martin worked for, Capricorn Copper, in outback Queensland, flooded spectacularly, with 1.5 billion litres of water – the equivalent volume of 600 Olympic swimming pools – passing through the site.

Operations were halted for several months while they cleared out the water before business resumed as usual.

But then in a hammer blow to workers, in March this year, another spate of bad rain hit Capricorn Copper, and the site has since been shut down indefinitely.

“No-one had any answers, not even the foreman or project manager,” he said, causing him to look for a transfer.

Martin, in his late 30s, was employed through mining labour service Byrnecut, which had contracts at two other mines in South Australia and Western Australia.

There was no issue with the miners who got jobs at South Australia, but it was a different story for Martin and the rest lumped with the Western Australian one.

“In FIFO generally speaking, flights are paid for by the company, or negotiated in the contract when you begin, as point of hire is where you are supposed to be flown from,” he explained.

However, because of the circumstances of the redeployment – and also workers’ desperation to stay employed – this negotiation never happened. It fell to them to pay their own way.

“Those that weren’t able to secure those positions in South Australia, were told to either accept the WA jobs, and pay for our own flights. Or quit and find another job,” he said. Many of them have ended up doing the latter.

News.com.au has contacted Byrnecut for comment.

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The email the owner of Martin’s mine, 29M, sent to staff. Picture: Supplied

A gravestone of sorts to mark the end of Capricorn Copper. Picture: Supplied

“There are some people I know who quit after one swing (as they) can’t afford it,” Martin said.

“Other people have started living in Western Australia.”

For Martin*, who is the sole breadwinner for his family, up-ending his life to Western Australian was not an option, which left him with no choice but to foot hefty airline bills.

He tried to cling on, as he had racked up many years at Byrnecut and didn’t want to give up on his chance at long service.

But it soon became untenable for him and many others remaining in Queensland.

Martin’s high earning job turned into a money hole. Picture: Supplied

A flooded causeway near the mine site. Picture: Supplied

“The travel time was a killer for a lot of people,” Martin said.

A lot of his colleagues live in Townsville and Cairns, requiring a short flight to Brisbane, and then five hours to Perth, before getting on the charter flight to the mine.

“I am lumped with flights in excess of $1000 per swing, nearly 12 hour travel time, when taking into account travel to and from the airport, and waiting in the terminal to depart plus to and from site, as well as a two hour time difference,” he explained.

“Meaning that when I finish work it’s 7:30pm at home and my children are already asleep.”

The flights to Perth were particularly expensive for the young father as he couldn’t even book them in advance.

“In the mining industry, rosters are always subject to change. It’s difficult to book flights far enough in advance to secure cheaper prices, when potentially you could have circumstances change, then you’re having to pay change fees for flights.”

*Name withheld over future employment concerns

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Originally published as Bizarre loophole at Aussie mining company leads to workers quitting en masse