HARTFORD, Conn. - A joint task force has come up with a framework for unifying the United Motorcoach Association and the American Bus Association, with the proposal to be presented to the boards of both organizations early this month.
The 10-member ABA/UMA Unification Task Force met here for two days in mid-November and "reached a framework for a unified industry association."
One member of the task force called the meetings "very grueling; intense and tiring."
Members of the task force agreed they would not discuss the proposed framework other than to say they were delighted and excited to have a plan they could present to the two boards on Dec. 7 in Orlando.
The meeting of the boards has been tightly structured by the task force to give both sides an equal opportunity to hear and consider the unification proposal. The plan will be presented at a joint meeting of the boards, after which each board will caucus separately to consider the proposal.
If the boards approve the framework, then the next step will be to present it to the members of both organizations in February.
One person close to the meetings said a lot of work still remains to be done before the organizations can be joined.
Unification or consolidation of the ABA and UMA has been an on-again, off-again issue in the motorcoach industry for more than a decade. In the past, the major stumbling blocks have been over governance, organizational culture and, to a rather lesser degree, leadership.
The governance question typically has gotten hung up over issues related to a unified board, the process for selecting board members, and the responsibilities of the board. Currently, the boards of the two organizations are chosen somewhat differently and they have slightly different roles. The UMA board is smaller and perceived to be more activist, while the ABA board is twice as large and has a strong executive committee between it and the staff. UMA board members are chosen through contested regional elections, while ABA board members are nominated by a committee and elected by members.
One source said the task force has come up with a plan that calls for competitively elected board members.
Representing the UMA in the negotiations have been board members David Brown (UMA chairman), Jeff Polzien, Brian Scott, Godfrey Lebron and Rick Hillard.
Representing the ABA have been board members Charles Zelle (ABA chairman), Ron Eyre, Don DeVivo, Doug Anderson and T.J. Morgan.
The chief executives of both organizations, Victor Parra of UMA and Peter Pantuso of ABA, also participated in the task force sessions.
Facilitating the meetings was Linda Shinn of Consensus Management Group of Indianapolis.
While some in the industry have characterized the proposed unification of ABA and UMA as a merger, it is not, and the two organizations and their negotiators have seldom, if ever, used that term.
Here's why: First, a "merger" is basically a legal term, meaning the union of two or more commercial interests or corporations, usually of similar size. In the corporate world, where mergers are an everyday event, a merger of two companies often produces a "winner" and a "loser." The union of two trade associations, which are at their heart political animals, is more accurately characterized as a unification or consolidation. It is important to both sides that there is no winner or loser.
Second, players in these sorts of unions like to push the perception that what will emerge will be a "new" organization - not a "merged" organization. It is likely that the ABA-UMA unification framework contains elements that will reinforce that perception.