Opinion: Paving the Way for TCA

By Lee P. Shaffer

Building a winning trucking association is tough. You need a good game plan, a hard-working team, and you have to go out and get the best players to take you to the top. That’s exactly what American Trucking Associations has done, and we’ll be a stronger association because of our efforts.

At our October meeting, the Executive Committee requested that I ask the officers of ATA’s affiliated conferences and national independent organizations to state their intentions regarding ATA integration by the first of the year.

I am pleased to report that the Truckload Carriers Association officers intend to recommend to the TCA board of directors and members that TCA integrate with ATA according to the schedule proposed by the Wren Committee.

If TCA’s membership votes to adopt the recommendations of its officers, the result will be the largest and strongest trucking association in the country’s history. A powerful, more unified ATA will represent the for-hire trucking industry. And TCA will join the Distribution and LTL Carriers Association, the Agricultural Transporters Conference and the members of the former Munitions Carriers Conference, which is to be merged into a new, broader Government Traffic Services Conferences — all of whom have already voted to integrate with ATA.

The evolution that brought us to this point is truly extraordinary. In less than 100 years, the trucking industry has gone from virtual nonexistence to 450,000 companies today, employing 9.6 million people, while accounting for 82% of America’s freight transportation revenues. Indications are that figure will rise in the years to come. In this growing environment, it is vital that the trucking industry has one powerful and unified trade association to look out for its best interests. The integration of TCA and LTL and other for-hire carriers into ATA accomplishes that goal.

Under the terms of the Wren plan, members of these conferences will become full-dues-paying members of ATA. If all current members of these conferences join ATA, it will bring in nearly $2 million in new dues revenues — an increase of more than 10%.

We welcome these conferences into the fold with open arms as we build a strong and unified member-driven trade association for the 21st century — one with political influence that matches the trucking industry’s extraordinary influence on the economy.

We need a powerful ATA to protect our industry and the U.S. economy. We are facing far too many common issues for us to walk alone. We have to stand strong and together in promoting our safety record and our essential role in our country’s prosperity. We have to be tough in facing hours-of-service reform, OSHA and ergonomics, the EPA and environmental over-regulation, unsound and uneconomical size and weight restrictions. Those are just a few of the many complex issues before us.

The decision by these conferences to integrate with ATA is a strong statement of support and a major step forward in fulfilling the goals of the Wren plan and creating a more unified ATA. As a result, we are the association that represents trucking — a formidable force for our industry that speaks with one powerful voice.