457 visa truck drivers ahead

Australasian Bus News, July 2007

Terrorist Attacks Show Why to Fear Foreign Truckies: Union

Arrests of foreign doctors in Australia over links to Britain’s attempted terrorist attacks are an example of why the 457 visa system shouldn’t be extended to the trucking industry, the union says.

In its continuing campaign against importing foreign drivers to meet the skills shortage, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) says the arrests of foreign-trained doctors practicing in Australia are a reminder that "Australians are at risk".

"The 457 visa contains no adequate background checks," Senior TWU official Mark Crosdale says.

"Imagine the impact of a truck fully loaded with explosives. This visa must be stopped from being extended to truck drivers, before disaster occurs in Australia.

"Australia can’t pretend it’s no longer vulnerable to a similar attack to what’s occurred in London and Glasgow over the past week. The threat is real, and every attempt must be made to thwart a disaster from occurring."

Crosdale says extending 457 visas to road transport "spells disaster for every road user".

"It will bring foreign drivers to our roads with little to no training, and only self-applied background checks," he says.

"This is just another reason the Federal Government should stop the 457 visa from being extended to the transport industry."

ABC News, January, 2007

A 28-year-old Muslim from India has been taken into custody in Rhode Island after a truck driving school became suspicious of his efforts to obtain a license to drive trucks with hazardous material.

Rhode Island State Police said Mohammed Yusef Mullawala came to the United States on a student visa but never attended classes at three separate schools he said he was going to attend.

Instructors at the Nationwide Tractor Trailer Driving School in Smithfield, R.I., became suspicious when Mullawala showed up last November.

"He kept saying he wanted a HAZMAT license, and he wanted it quickly and that he did not want to learn to back the truck up, only to be able to drive it forward," said Darleen Crawford, president of the driving school, who reported her concerns to Highway Watch, a national Homeland Security program for highway safety and anti-terrorism.

Debbie Schlussel, October 2006

Are potential Islamic terrorists trying to get commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) and hazardous materials hauling certificates? You bet, they are. In droves.

... the South Central Career Center Truck Driver Training School in West Plains, Missouri, his school provided answers for the Commercial Driver's License (CDL) Test to Muslim students seeking to fraudulently pass the test and seek CDLs and Hazardous Materials hauling certificates.

A whopping 60% of those taking the CDL test at Proffitt's trucking school were Muslims, who'd traveled from all over the U.S. and the world to take the test specifically at the school. That's because his school enabled Muslims to cheat. Some never even attended classes and can't drive trucks ...

Although the indictment refers to about three dozen test applicants by name, White and May have told investigators that between 200 and 300 students fraudulently got their CDLs through the conspiracy, officials said Thursday.

Of those, 150 to 200 later obtained certification to haul hazardous materials ...

Schlozman said that the awarding of licenses to individuals "from an area as dangerous as Somalia was a matter of particular concern to the community." ...

More: Bus News, ABC News, Debbie Schlussel