Outlining the threats facing carriers and the trucking industry at large, American Trucking Associations President & CEO Chris Spear took dead aim at unions, trial lawyers and environmental extremists in his remarks to attendees at the 2023 ATA Management Conference & Exhibition in Austin, Texas.
“Together they constitute a clear threat to our industry's ability to grow and support our nation's economic security,” said Spear. “Theirs is a twisted tale of perception putting companies out of business and workers out of jobs. Their objective is simple: to claim that they speak on behalf of the hardest working people in America.” Spear added that union groups spent $1.8 billion in the last presidential election cycle to achieve legislative wins for pro-union initiatives.
Spear said Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su should never be allowed make a number of those efforts a reality, including The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, federalization of California’s AB5 legislation and efforts by some states to create their own meal and rest break rules that preempt federal requirements.
“They're all engineered to rewrite a century of labor laws and reverse decades of plummeting union membership,” said Spear. “[Su] and others like her embrace a culture of, ‘If it's good for us, do it, and if it fails then blame somebody else.’”
Spear said the trucking industry is already pro-worker, citing a 15.5% rise in driver pay in the last year and a median salary of more than $70,000 plus benefits, as well as federally backed apprenticeship programs to help drivers become safer and more responsible at their jobs.
“So how is it that we're all blamed when apprenticeships have the unwavering support of the unions and this president?” said Spear. “Our workforce will not be fooled into a false sense of security. Thirty thousand hard-working Yellow employees lost their jobs because one of the two parties refused to come to the table.
“ATA stepped in, connected those looking for a job with our thousands of members in need of their talents,” Spear continued. “What has the International Brotherhood of Teamsters done? Nothing. Just self-promoting tweets and blame. If that is representation … we want none of it.”
