Trapped Chilean miners are not being paid

The 33 trapped Chilean miners may not receive any wages while they are trapped underground, a union official has claimed.

Union leader Evelyn Olmos says that San Esteban, the company operating the mine, does not have the money to pay their wages and absorb lawsuits, and is not even participating in the rescue. Olmos and the union are now calling on the government to step in and pay these workers’ wages starting in September. 'We want the government to pay our salaries in full until our comrades are freed and then pay our severances,' said Olmos. Mining Minister Laurence Golborne reminded Olmos that the government was prohibited by labour laws from assuming responsibility for the lost wages and that the matter will have to be resolved in Chilean courts. Asking the government to resolve this matter will open the flood gates on all out of work citizens looking for government assistance. The union’s request would then also entail paying roughly 100 other people at the mine who are now out of work and 170 other San Esteban workers who work elsewhere. This news comes just as rescue drilling operations have begun. The miners have been trapped since August 5, 2010 and are now the longest trapped miners in history beating the record set by three Chinese miners back in 2009 who were trapped for 25 days. The miners are trapped more than 2400 feet underground and are currently being fed and given supplies lowered down via the three existing bore holes. In an effort to raise spirits, the men spoke for about three minutes each to a family member on Sunday after a telephone line was lowered down one of the bore holes.