OVERSEAS students are earning as little as $5 an hour to work in restaurant and cleaning jobs across Adelaide, community leaders say.

Indian Australian Association of SA president Vikram Madan said more than 50 students had told him they were being underpaid over the past year, including some who getting as little as $5 an hour.

He said the problem was “endemic” and mainly affected students studying at vocational colleges and those without strong English skills.

“Our own Indian restaurants are exploiting some of these students,” Mr Madan said.

“Some have used people for two weeks and don’t pay them a dime.”

He said some restaurants encouraged students to work for free on a “trial basis” before telling them they were unsuitable for the job. Some were working for cleaning companies or as waiters and kitchen hands in restaurants in the city and western suburbs.

Mr Madan said students stayed in low paying jobs out of “desperation to earn some money to survive”.

Indian Community Radio chair Vinaya Rai said Indian, Chinese, Korean and Sri Lankan students had told her they were getting paid as little as $6 an hour to work in restaurants.

Many turned to Asian restaurants after struggling to find employment elsewhere, she said.

“They think if they complain or leave, they’re being ungrateful to that employer,” Mrs Rai said.

“They’re quite vulnerable and don’t know their rights or the system. They just want to settle in.

“I tell them to either make a complaint or use this experience to move on to a job somewhere else. If they don’t make a complaint, there’s not much we can do.”

Shady bosses keep using Indian students

OVERSEAS students working as part-time shop cleaners are being paid well below award rates, their union says.

Shady bosses are exploiting the mostly Indian students by paying them as little as $12 an hour compared with the going rate of $18.43.

The Weekly Times Messenger understands some cleaners are paid even less than $12 an hour.

Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union SA Branch Secretary David Di Troia said its organisers had discovered student cleaners, working under contractors in small to medium suburban supermarkets, being paid well under the award rate.

``The general trend is that the exploitation is targeted towards international students, or partners of students, in the suburban commercial cleaning sector who are employed by subcontractors and are on temporary visas,’’ Mr Di Troia said.

As well as underpayment, other issues included ``unpaid training and work, cash in hand work and inadequate health and safety’‘, he said.

The LHMU launched an ongoing campaign targeting underpayment in the cleaning industry in 2006, but says international students are easily exploited because of language barriers and a lack of understanding of their rights.

What went so terribly wrong?