March 4, 2013 17:38

Australian miners fired for uploading 'Harlem Shake' clip to YouTube

Gold mine owners take dim view of employees having a go at dance sensation

Photo: Press

A group of miners in Australia have been fired after uploading a video of them performing the own version of the 'Harlem Shake' underground - scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to watch.

The BBC says that up to 15 employees – some of whom were only watching the stunt, rather than taking part themselves – of the Agnew Mine in Western Australia by Barminco after they were deemed to have flaunted safety regulations.

Although Barminco could not be reached for comment, a dismissal letter sent to employees and obtained by the West Australian newspaper said that the dance had breached "core values of safety, integrity and excellence". Meanwhile, Sven Lunsche from mine owners Gold Field said of the decision: "Safety and mining is absolutely pivotal and that is the main reason why Barminco acted the way it did," Sven Lunsche from Gold Fields told the BBC.

According to an anonymous worker, however, the group participating in the dance hadn't endangered safety measures and that they were only "having a bit of fun".

The 'Harlem Shake', a track by Canadian producer Baauer, became a YouTube sensation due to users uploading videos of themselves and their friends dancing to the song, helping it achieve unthinkable levels of popularity and even hitting the top spot in the US charts last month.

Previously, it was estimated that there are over 40,000 different 'Harlem Shake' videos on YouTube with over 175million hits between them, with Baauer claiming top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 after becoming the first beneficiary of a change in the rules stipulating that YouTube plays will now count toward the chart figures. The song subsequently bagged the Number One position after scoring 103million streams of the song in seven days and an additional 262,000 downloads.

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