'New ATA' Defended by Member

An editorial in Traffic World magazine suggesting that American Trucking Associations “has not yet hit its stride” drew a spirited response from Stoney “Mit” Stubbs Jr., chairman of Dallas-based Frozen Food Express Industries.

In a letter last week to Traffic World Editor Clayton Boyce, Mr. Stubbs said what he has witnessed at ATA over the past year “has been nothing short of remarkable.”

“A trade association that was fragmented, losing members and operating at a deficit, has been reborn,” he said.

Since the key Aug. 6 vote in which the association’s Executive Committee gave the green light to an ambitious restructuring plan, nearly 200 carriers have joined ATA and over 50 have increased their dues commitment, Mr. Stubbs said.

“We are one of those carriers that have increased our investment in ATA under the new dues schedule,” he said, explaining that the decision was based, in part, on ATA President Walter McCormick’s commitment that there would be no special deals on membership.

Ironically, it was Mr. Stubbs who, as a representative of the Truckload Carriers Assn., cast one of three dissenting votes on the Wren Committee’s restructuring proposal in August. Although he personally supported the strategic plan, Mr. Stubbs was committed to vote in accordance with the wishes of TCA’s board of directors.

Mr. Stubbs pointed out that the recent convention in New Orleans was the “biggest, best attended and most profitable in ATA’s 65-year history.” Political contributions are at an all-time high, ATA’s lobbying clout has been cited by the media and “membership is energized,” Mr. Stubbs said in his letter.

“Turnarounds take time,” he concluded. “But this one is going at breakneck speed. Our advice to carriers sitting on the fence is this: Get on board, because this organization is taking off.

“The new, unified, member-driven ATA is the voice of trucking in the United States, and if you don’t belong, you won’t be heard,” Mr. Stubbs wrote.