A student's stay in a rooming house.

This is a horror story told by one of the housing tenants who lived in a rooming house in Fitzroy.

image courtesy of news.domain.com.au

Manasa is an Indian student who came last year to study IT at RMIT.  She is about 20 years old. When she first came she had no idea of her housing rights.

I am from India and in India we lived in slums. I could not afford a lot of money to come here. I had to take out a bank loan in India to afford my education and my living expenses.

I did not know about my housing rights as I had no idea about these orientation sessions from RMIT. At that time these orientation sessions from student services were never properly publicized. They were only publicized through an RMIT program called MATES, which I have not heard of.

Here the rooming house was damp and really old. There were insects everywhere.The house has been around for 20 years with no sign of renovation.

image courtesy of dailytelegraph.com.au

It was really cramped inside. It also smelt musty sometimes.

There was no smoke alarm in place. Even if there was it never worked. Because I didn't attend any housing session in RMIT I didn't know that a working smoke alarm was mandatory.

Yet I was asked to pay about $300 per week to a really greedy landlord.

As a result of the mustiness, insects and other hazards, I could never really study properly. I was ill all the time. My results suffered and I was put "At risk" by my school. My school recommended that I see the housing service and I did. They recommended that I moved to another livable place. I moved in to a share house in Brunswick.

I tell this story so that you guys don't make the same mistake as me and that you utilize your uni's international student services.

Remember the case of Frank the seedy landlord who was on the news just last year? Well this is the same thing and it is not surprising many students get duped into these sort of arrangements.

Whilst this is still happening today, students and tenants have rights and they can be accessed here.

La Porchetta pays its staff as little as $10.50 an hour

In today's Age I found out that La Porchetta in the south eastern suburbs pays as little as $10.50 per hour. But the staff always gets free food.

Image courtesy of skynews.com.au

The owner Ruby Chand runs two franchisees, one in Pakenham and the other in Berwick. One employee is owed about $18000 in wages.

A pizza being served at La Porchetta. Image courtesy of freole.com

Mr Chand thinks it is ok to get away with underpaying the staff by giving free food and drink.

Being paid in kind is illegal. You must be paid the correct amount of monies for all hours worked including penalty rates if need be. The minimum pay rate is about $18-$20. You can check it out here.

Some comments as a result of being underpaid:
"I had to go here again recently and it has not improved at all. I ordered atlantic salmon, chips and salad. Was very hard to get attention of the very young looking waitresses. My salmon was raw and partly frozen in the middle. I explained that to her and she took it to the kitchen and came back and said the cook said that's how it's supposed to be cooked! What a joke. We didn't pay for that and I didn't get it replaced, I just had some crappy pizza that someone else didn't eat." a customer on Urbanspoon.com said.

" This place has terrible service, when my family and i arrived we received our drinks straight away. However, our food all came at different times, they sent the wrong orders and two people never received their meals after waiting ONE HOUR! We then requested to see the manager an it took him half an hour to see us!!!! All our meals were horrible and cold! This manager needs to sort his staff out! Never ever returning and i will be telling many close friends never attend also" another one said on Urbanspoon.com

The Fair Work Ombudsman last year investigated these claims and more as some staff were owed thousands of dollars.

The case is to be heard in September

RMIT's mental health test and its effects

RMIT. Image courtesy of studyinaustralia.co.uk

RMIT will have a new mental health test for students who have mental and psychological problems. It is currently in the stages of development. They aim to have this as part of their new conduct policy which undermines the student's privacy and maybe in breach of the privacy laws.

Catalyst has already written an article about this last month (in the paper version). The test is conducted by the Fitness for Study panel. Students are require to undergo one or more tests to determine whether or not they are a serious risk to others.

Trying to study. Image courtesy of rmitcatalyst.com

RUSU is opposed to the plan as such as it undermines a students right to privacy. It also sees that more and more students will be expelled or excluded because of this.
Students and other people are outraged by the plan as shown below.

"This is absolutely disgusting and is an example Of yet another insidious way where ppl with mental health conditions are being actively discriminated against, all purportedly in the name of trying to prevent the occasional embarrassing situation . So what's next, a screening test before you are allowed into a shopping center or use public transport ? . As a Nurse and current student at RMIT I am totally appalled at this and hope that the anti discrimination ombudsman has more of a say in this than what we as students have not !."  A student quoted this on RMIT's Facebook page.

"As a once proud ex-student of RMIT I am appalled at the announcement in The Age today about the proposed psychological assessment of students. With mental health statistics at an all time high around the globe, how can our "Working Man's College" even consider this as a reasonable and rightful way forward. I am disgusted RMIT." Another quote from an outraged person on RMIT's page.

"Excuse me ignoramuses!! I have a mental illness and I was one of the only 5% of pupils who finished my course AT RMIT! This is clear discrimination AND completely fascist as it segregates forcefully without clearly identifying the real problem which is the indifferent institution! Each persons circumstances are different people! Once again too many people with opinions about a topic they have no experience or expertise about Banting on about stupid approaches!! This is a private matter that must only rest with the student and health professional and others ONLY when invited!!" A comment from The Age (25/6/2013)

Ideally we think that RMIT should grow a heart and that this policy is not very fair. RUSU also thinks that RMIT should be more understanding about these things. In the long run not many students will want to come to RMIT.

In terms of treating people with mental health Melbourne Uni seems to be a lot fairer on these students and the way how their information is used. As such they don't have all of this complicated testing.

Which do you prefer: RMIT or Melbourne?

How to spend wisely at the supermarket

Students want to save some money at the supermarket? Here are some tips on doing just that:

image courtesy of cheapstudents.ca.

1) Know how much things cost- most supermarkets have an online catalog in which you can have a look at.

2) Buy things in season- as it is cheaper. Or better still buy your fruits and vegetables from the markets. RMIT is near the market so there is no excuse for buying at the supermarket

3) Go to the supermarket on their discount days (I believe its Wednesday or Thursday for most supermarkets). Everything is cheaper then.

4) Improvise with different things- instead of buying onion stock cubes for flavour, why not use a real onion?
5) Be frugal- buy things which you need not want. If you are living alone then why not one big staple (i.e a huge packet pasta) and make all sorts of different meals out it?

6) Sometimes International foods can very expensive at the supermarket, so you might have to buy them from a international grocery shop. Its a good idea to try new foods whilst you're in Melbourne. Or you can always make your meals from scratch.

7) Make a list of the things that you need. That way you won't be tempted into buying things that you don't need. And its also a good way to remember what you need. You can use your phone for this if it is an iPhone or Android one as they have a memo app.

I hope these hints help. Have you got any more hints? Drop us a line below.

Housing problems

Unlike the goods and services standards this stands is quite low leaving the International students with housing that is insecure and unsafe. Some of these lack the basic essentials. Katherine reports on this issue.

Over the years I have volunteered at the Union where students seem to be living in low income housing areas where housing is quite dangerous.  This is in particular in some areas of Footscray and Fitzroy. These students worried about their safety leaving them at risk of failing subjects.

Often the locks were insecure leaving the place to be burgled. I know of students who tried to lock their house only to return and find that all of their stuff was gone. These students didn't know much about insurance and about making sure that the place has locks when you first look at the property. Then they also don't know that you can claim the monies back from the landlord

Some of them don't know much about renting because where they lived didn't have such a concept. I remember last semester where RMIT didn't do much but except to say here's where you can find all of their stuff. But Australian Federation of International students had their own day where many attended and housing rights were discussed in detail.

Have you been in any terrible housing situations? Tell us below.