Opinion: ATA: Look What We're Building

By Walter B. McCormick Jr.

I don’t know anyone who got far in life saying, “Let’s go with the status quo.” To grow and to succeed we must embrace change, even if it’s not always easy to live through it. Old habits are comfortable and familiar while new ways are uncertain and challenging at first. But constructive change allows us to take control of our destiny.

During the past 14 months, we have been restructuring and refocusing our trade association — an association of strength and power, an association that is the voice of trucking. As ATA members gather in Orlando for the last annual conference of this century, we will be working together to put the final touches on that effort, preparing our trade association and our industry for a new century where more, dramatic changes certainly wait.

I hope all of you will join me at the opening session of our convention, where I plan to review just how far we have come and what we are building.

We are tearing down the old to make room for the new. We are building a more expansive and powerful American Trucking Associations — a 21st century trade association with political clout to match trucking’s extraordinary influence on the U.S. economy.

When I first became president, we asked members: What if there were no ATA? The answer came back loud and clear: We would build one. Members said they wanted a fiscally responsible association that focuses on advocacy. They wanted an association that would wield strength before Congress, the courts, regulatory agencies, the news media and the states. They wanted a trade association that unified the industry and spoke with one voice. With these goals in mind, we got to work refocusing ATA on what its members need most. There is clear evidence of our growing success.

I have the pleasure of reporting to our members that for more than 15 years, the trucking industry sought a separate motor carrier administration that would put trucking on par with the other modes. The House of Representatives has approved such an administration, by an overwhelming vote of 415-5.

Two years ago, ATA challenged the Clinton Administration on ergonomics and lost in the House. This year, with fewer Republicans in the House, we won.

When the Environmental Protection Agency sought to promulgate expensive and unscientific clean air standards, ATA challenged them in court and won.

Without question, this is best-in-class advocacy. We also are extending trucking’s influence through strong partnerships with the state associations. Working together, we repealed Oregon’s weight-distance tax — the oldest and largest in the nation. We are challenging Idaho’s weight-distance tax in court and working in the New York legislature to repeal a similar tax. In Arkansas, we beat back a $1.4 billion toll proposal so effectively that it had a chilling effect on similar plans across the country.

We have only scratched the surface of our power. America’s 3 million truck drivers move 80% of U.S. commerce. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that we carry the U.S. economy. Trucking deserves advocacy that reflects our premier stature – on the Hill, in the news, in the agencies and in the states. Your new ATA is delivering.

At this year’s convention, you will see how far the new ATA has come. And we hope you will join with us in working to finish the job. There is only one ATA. With your help, the unparalleled success we’ve had this past year will be a mere taste of what is yet to come.