New Lobbying Angle: Cooperate, Don't Isolate
Two associations' peace pact is groundwork for stronger Washington lobby; others are needed.
DOUG CONDRA
PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER
After more than two years of sparring like a couple of weary heavyweights, the American Trucking Assns. and the Truckload Carriers Assn. have put down the gloves. It's about time.
In late 1998, ATA approved its mandate to require carriers to join both ATA and at least one state trucking association before they could become members of TCA or other affiliated groups. That prompted TCA and others to sever relations with ATA; the two most powerful voices for trucking in Washington went separate ways.
Now that's been fixed, and hopefully for good. Under their new affiliation agreement TCA keeps its independence and its own staff. It will pay ATA $100,000 a year to support the trucking lobby, and in return gets a voting seat on the ATA executive committee and access to other ATA resources. TCA may also hire its own lobbyist when it feels it's necessary.
The two have also agreed to work together to promote membership growth in both organizations.
The situation evolved when ATA assigned a committee in the late '90s to design a strategic plan for how the alliance should ideally be structured. Called the Wren Committee (for its chairman, Lakeville MotorExpress CEO John Wren), it wisely called for downsizing ATA internally. And it came up with an admirable concept: a single lobbying voice for the industry, with all members paying their fair share of its operating costs.
The downsizing worked; ATA may not have survived the economic downturn without it. But telling truckers they have to do something—like joining ATA and a state association to be eligible for membership in the group they most want to join—would not fly.
Hoped-for hordes of new members didn't materialize. However, ATA reports that it has retained 98% of its membership in 2001 and so far in 2002—a remarkable achievement in tough economic times. That's good news.
But if trucking is to strengthen its voice in Washington, there must be more peacemaking moves with other groups who bailed out on ATA over its tough membership stance. We look for that to happen.
That is how it should be. Now more than ever, trucking groups need cooperation, not isolation. Some very serious issues are staring us in the face: hours of service; security concerns; the Mexican border; reauthorization of highway legislation; even more severe emissions restrictions.
Obviously the newly unified trucking lobby will be tested from time to time because the elements do not agree on every issue. But compromise should be the byword from here on.
