Arkansas Trucking Association

The Last Word

Does Black Smoke Matter

By David O'Neal

History is replete with grassroots movements that have improved working conditions, brought down governments and in many cases, effected genuine and lasting societal change.

Within the trucking industry, organized labor movements have met with relative success, ebbing and flowing over the decades. Yet grassroots efforts have generally fallen short of their goals.

So it is with “Black Smoke Matters”, a recent social media-driven push to influence regulations, primarily around hours-of-service.  Their name is an admitted adaptation of “Black Lives Matter”, a movement that campaigns against violence and racism. It’s also intended, according to their public comments, to evoke an “old school trucking” mindset of the days before environmental regulations cleaned up the exhaust and emissions. And there are elements of “Anonymous” in at least one of their online videos, complete with a Guy Fawkes mask, ominous music and a distorted and bass-heavy vocal track with menacing demands for what they consider reform.

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Up Front- Inquiry, Dopamine, and the Rowing Machine

Shannon Newton
President, ATA

It feels so good to be right. Neuroscientists say we get a little rush of dopamine when we read or hear news that matches our beliefs about the world and success.  

Recently while at the gym I made a flippant comment, in attempt to make a loss sting a little less, about how boys were supposed to win a particular challenge.  I believed it to be true, but I didn’t really know with certainty.  It seemed logical to me that longer bodies with superior upper body strength would be advantageous for a row challenge measuring meters rowed in a given time.

As not to dwell on the loss, I quickly moved on to the next station and a new topic of small talk. 

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The Last Word

Holiday Traditions Bring Us Together

By Erica Brigance & Michelle Smith

This time of year, we take part in ingrained traditions, from the places we meet, the food we cook or the gifts we exchange. Likewise, the Arkansas Trucking Association’s 40 Under 40 Council has held to a near-decade long tradition of giving back during the holiday season.

The council, which meets quarterly at various locations across the state, always includes an end-of-year volunteer event to allow members to practice acts of kindness and generosity for communities or groups in need of holiday cheer. Previous events have included wrapping gifts for children in foster care and working with the Salvation Army to sort gifts for local children in need.

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Up Front- Find a Way to Win

Shannon Newton
President, ATA

I would love to use this column to pat ourselves on the back and congratulate all of you on a big win for the trucking industry, but maybe next time. This one's about perseverance, commitment and our willingness as an industry, as advocates, to call an audible and continue the work because there's plenty of it.

For the better part of three years, we have strongly supported the American Trucking Associations efforts to find a solution to the F4A issue of federal preemption.  State laws conflicting with federal laws have subjected interstate carriers to the impossible task of attempting to comply with multiple sets of overlapping rules and made the industry a target for greedy trial lawyers looking to catch carriers out of compliance with the duplicative requirements.

Over this time period, legislative strategies have been created, executed, scrapped and re-drawn numerous times.  Members of Congress have come and gone.  We’ve hoped for relief from the nation’s highest court.  But each time we were close to delivering a victory, language was stripped, votes were whipped, the petition for hearing by the Supreme Court was denied, and we came up short.

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