At the end of August, 33 miners from Chile were trapped underground in a copper and gold mine. It seems now that the miners may not be rescued for months, and their employer, the San Esteban company, has no intentions to pay any of the stranded miners. The company’s license has been suspended, and it may go bankrupt itself.
This raises the issue of business ethics: should the miners be paid for their time spent in the mine, even though they are not doing any work? Should the company be held responsible and therefore pay the miners?
I believe the miners should definitely be offered some compensation. Without pay for months, the families of the miners will be unable to feed their families.
Trapped miners is not an uncommon thing. As a mining company, San Esteban should have made certain their accounting/budgeting plan included safety regulations and a compensation plan for their employees. Just like if Tata Motors were to bring the Nano to Canada, they would make sure the safety regulations of the car were up to par. Otherwise, the consequences would be severe. San Esteban’s bankruptcy is little, however, compared to the lives of the trapped miners.
Source: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Trapped+miners+paid/3464663/story.html