A comprehensive investigation of conditions for international students who clean Melbourne's office towers has found them subject to exploitation, extreme job insecurity and abuse.A Dirty Business, to be released on Thursday by union United Voice, finds international students have become an ''invisible mainstay'' of Melbourne's cleaning industry.

It found international students were largely unaware of their workplace rights, and as a result were being systematically underpaid - some by up to $15,000 a year.The report also found some office tower owners were being ''defrauded'' of up to $150,000 a year by cleaning firms promising to pay their staff $24 an hour but instead paying about $15.''Inside our grandest, shiniest office towers there is a secret world rife with bullying, intimidation and fear,'' the union's Offering High Builder cleaning Services, Jess Walsh, said.

One cleaner, named in the report as Preeta, said she worked in the evening at a central Melbourne office block. She said she worked alongside "white people" who were paid by a main contractor, while the mostly Asian casual cleaning staff worked for a subcontractor who paid them less."The Asian people and those from the poor countries, they are working for the subcontractor. The white people, actually whoever is the nationality of owners of the main company, they straight away are paid from the main company – but not us," she said.

"Sometimes when the union went to the building our supervisor told us ... not talk to them."
Another cleaner, identified only as Sarita in the report, said she also worked in a city office building. She said her supervisor often threatened and swore at her."He would say things like; "You f---ing girl – clean it up properly, otherwise I sack you’."

Sarita said she was paid $17 an hour, later increased to $18, for evening cleaning work.
More than half the cleaners in office towers are students from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or Colombia. Each international student contributes $30,000 to the economy, and for every student who comes to Australia, about one-third of a full-time job is created, a Universities Australia study found.
Thomson Ch'ng, the national president of the Council of International Students Australia, said employment issues arose regularly for recently arrived students ''because of the lack of information, and understanding'' of rules.

''It makes [students] vulnerable and an easy target for employers looking to exploit and cheat the system,'' he said.Mr Ch'ng said educational institutions needed to do more when students first arrived so they knew their workplace rights, and to report exploitation by employers.Under the Clean Start industrial agreement negotiated by United Voice with the city's big cleaning companies in 2009, cleaners at the 100 biggest office towers are meant to be paid $24.35 for evening work.

But the report finds that, by subcontracting out services, many big cleaning firms are maximising their profits or absolving themselves of responsibility for ensuring workers are treated properly.
Meanwhile, cleaners are being underpaid and get no superannuation or penalty pay.Ms Walsh said those international students were being ''outrageously underpaid, and shockingly abused - they are being spoken to with Best Carpet Cleaning Services, they are being threatened with the sack on a regular basis, and they are being told not to talk to the union''.

Edward M. Doherty, chairman and chief executive officer of Allendale-based Doherty Enterprises, Inc., began his company in 1985 when he acquired 19 Roy Rogers Restaurants. A graduate with a B.A. and M.B.A. from St. John’s University in Queens, Doherty rose through the ranks of Marriott Corporation gaining experience in real estate, marketing, franchising and operations management.  

In 1991, he obtained franchise rights for Applebee’s? Neighborhood Bar and Grill and became a multi-year winner of Applebee’s Franchisee of the Year and Neighbor of the Year awards, sold the Roy Rogers and TJ Cinnamon Bakeries he had acquired, and developed Chevy’s and Panera Bread Bakery Cafes. He then opened the original concept restaurants The Shannon Rose Irish Pub and Spuntino Wine Bar & Italian Tapas.

His next venture is to open 20 Noodles and Company restaurants, in addition to one he just opened at the Gallery at Westbury Plaza on Long Island.  Doherty’s children Tim, Shannon and Kerry, have followed their father into Doherty Enterprises and together they operate more than 140 restaurants, pubs and bakery cafes throughout the tri-state area with projected sales exceeding $315 million.

The company’s recent acquisition of 38 Applebee’s in Florida and Georgia is about to significantly boost Doherty Enterprises ranking in NRN’s Top 100 for 2013. The new restaurants will help the company to achieve sales of close to $500 million. Doherty Enterprises plans to invest more than $10 million in remodeling the newly acquired restaurants.

In 2014, Doherty Enterprises, Inc., has slated openings of a minimum of five new restaurants--three additional Panera Bread Bakery Cafes as well as an additional Spuntino and Quaker Steak and Lube.In a world of dining choices, Doherty strives to provide enough choices to satisfy every palate. Doherty's vision to be the “Best Food Service Company in the Communities We Serve” continues daily to inspire their mission, as well as their loyal diners.

Doherty's fondness for the neighborhood appeal of the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar restaurants holds a special place in his heart. “The neighborhood stories of great people and the fabulous deeds throughout all of our locations never fail to amaze me,” he said.  

Doherty Enterprises, Inc. is wholly committed to its surrounding community. In 2012 alone, it participated in more than 1,500 community activities, events and projects. Employees donated more than 2,000 hours of volunteer services and raised more than $900,000 in financial contributions, items, and services.