Advocating for truckers is a full-time job — Taking The Hire Road

Jeremy Reymer, founder of DriverReach, is joined on this episode of Taking The Hire Road by a good friend, Gary Langston, president of the Indiana Motor Truck Association (IMTA).

Before his current role, Langston spent 37 years at UPS, working in various capacities ranging from driver to operations roles and leadership positions, including his final job as corporate public affairs manager. 

After retiring from UPS, his retirement plans changed when he accepted the role of president at the IMTA, where he has served for the last 12 years.

The trucking industry is a highly regulated industry, so having a say in the laws that are created surrounding the industry is vital. One of Langston’s biggest focuses as president has been surrounding advocacy, especially when it comes to legislative and regulatory issues at the state and federal levels — a never-ending effort.

While Langston noted that most of the time, advocacy efforts consist of topics in favor of drivers, occasionally legislative issues come up that the association opposes. 

“Speed limit increases, tax increases, tolling — those kinds of things that our industry doesn’t support eventually come up and we have to take those on,” he said.

Whether you’re in favor of a bill or against it, the power of speaking directly to decision-makers can’t be understated. The association has a yearly call to action in which members go to Washington to talk to legislators about issues impacting the industry.

“When people from the back home districts go to Washington, D.C., to call on members of Congress from their state, it’s so much more meaningful than many of those people that are calling on Congress on a daily basis,” Langston said.

One of Langston’s other main efforts, and the primary objective when he first began his role as president, has been investing in future leaders. Bringing in young professionals to the industry, especially those in leadership positions, is necessary for the industry to continue to thrive.

The Future Leaders of Indiana Council (FTL) program aims to further the professional development of its members through education, mentorship and leadership opportunities. The program focuses on professionals running trucking companies and those who are part of solving the industry’s challenges.

“The young, youthful minds that are coming on board are the ones that are deeply invested, the most well educated — whether it be technologically or just in general — and they’re just so important. We can’t do it without them. And we have to continue to push that,” Langston added.

As those in the industry are well aware, attracting new and younger drivers is also crucial. The minimum age to operate a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce is 21, but according to a 2019 American Trucking Associations report, the average age for new truck drivers is 35.

While the challenge of driver recruitment isn’t a new problem, Langston noted that it has continued to escalate as generations change due to shifting attitudes and focuses when it comes to quality of life.

After spending his entire career in “picking something up and taking it someplace different from where it started,” Langston remains positive about the trucking industry and the support it provides from within associations such as the IMTA.

“The networking piece that occurs when our members get together — as competitive as they are on the street, away from events, they’re always vying for much the same freight and they’re competitive as competitive can be. But when they’re together, they’re talking about what worked, what didn’t, what was good for them, what wasn’t, things that people might try that they haven’t tried. I don’t know of any industry that possesses a stronger family atmosphere from that perspective than the trucking industry.”

Click here to learn more about the Indiana Motor Truck Association.

More from Taking The Hire Road:

Solving the parking puzzle: Truck Parking Club’s win-win approach

How St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund supports truckers and their families

Ward pilots TCA into next chapter

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