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Dance gets miners fired: More than a dozen miners who recorded a video of them doing the “Harlem Shake” were reportedly fired from their six-figure Australian jobs.
As many as 15 miners in Australia were reportedly fired after video of eight workers was posted doing the “Harlem Shake” dance craze in the mine.
The men were working in the Agnew Mine in Western Australia for Barminco, an underground services firm, reported Reuters.
A 31-second video shows them partaking in the Harlem Shake—a type of dance craze that has gained massive popularity on YouTube over the past few weeks. As many as 4,000 videos of the Shake are being uploaded a day, with some featuring celebrities and athletes.
According to the West Australian, the men did the dance during a work break. Some of the miners are holding tools, while others are shirtless.
“Underground mining has strict safety standards as there are accidents and fatalities. The Barminco management saw this as a breach of standards,” Sven Lunsche, a spokesman with mine owner Gold Fields Ltd., told Reuters on Monday.
He said the move to fire the workers was sparked after the YouTube video was posted last week.
One of the workers, who declined to be named, told the West Australian that the mine operator’s choice to fire them was too severe.
He said they were just “having a bit of fun.”
But Barminco said the workers’ dancing undermines the firm’s “core values of safety, integrity and excellence,” and added that they can never work with the company at any of its facilities around the world, according to the paper.
Some of the workers are now considering legal action against the company.
The song “Harlem Shake” by Brooklyn producer Baauer is currently the No. 2 Australian single, according to The Associated Press.
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