USA Today - 17.10.2019

2B z THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019 z USA TODAY MONEY

that a deal was struck on a path to per-

manent employment for temporary

workers, a key UAW demand.

The autoworkers walked off the job

at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 16, launching the

union’s first nationwide strike in 12

years.

If approved by a council of union

leaders Thursday, the deal would end

the strike. At that point, GM workers

represented by the UAW will cast votes

to ratify the deal, a process that’s ex-

pected to take a week or two. If they

vote no, the strike could resume.

“The number one priority of the na-

tional negotiation team has been to se-

cure a strong and fair contract that our

members deserve,” said UAW Vice

President Terry Dittes, director of the

UAW GM Department, in a statement.

“Out of respect for our members, we

will refrain from commenting on the

details until the UAW GM leaders gath-

er together and receive all details.”

UAW strikers were relieved to hear

of the proposal but said they needed to

learn details before they’re ready to

ratify.

“My hope that they release the

white book, which is where all the lan-

guage is. It’s the full contract with the

changes that have been made and any-

thing added,” said Dave Green, former

president of UAW Local 1112 in Lords-

town, Ohio, a plant shuttered this year.

“I’ve been working at GM for many

years. The (contract) highlights are

great, but I want to know the lowlights

too, so I need to go through the white

book before I make a decision.”

Autoworkers were bitter about GM

announcing plans in November 2018 to

idle four U.S. plants and argued it was

time for them to be rewarded after

making concessions to help the auto-

maker rebound from bankruptcy.

During negotiations, it became evi-

dent that workers were adamant that

temporary workers should get a better

deal from GM. During the recession a

decade ago, the union agreed to ex-

panded hiring of temps by GM, Ford

and what then was Chrysler. Those

workers are paid $15-$19 an hour with

no profit sharing, little time off and no

job protection.

The final days of negotiations fo-

cused on what the automaker would

commit to build in the U.S. over the

four-year life of the new contract. The

union pressed for internal combustion

vehicle commitments even as GM says

it is moving toward an electric future

and continues Mexican production of

SUVs and pickups for U.S. sale.

The deal was struck only after an

acrimonious strike that included bick-

ering over if the company or union

would pay strikers’ health care costs

and GM obtaining a court order bar-

ring picketers from blocking the Spring

Hill, Tennessee, assembly plant.

The negotiations have been con-

ducted under a cloud cast by a corrup-

tion investigation that has led to nine

convictions of union and auto officials.

Days before the contract expired, re-

gional director Vance Pearson was

charged with spending of union mon-

ey for himself, and court documents

implicated the current and former

presidents of the union.

The ratification vote will be a mea-

sure of members’ trust of their leaders

to negotiate a good deal that they must

live with for the next four years.

The union chose to negotiate first

with GM to create a template that it

will take to Ford and Fiat Chrysler

Automobiles, whose UAW contracts

were extended while the union negoti-

ated with GM.

Strike

Continued from Page 1B

a three-year average to account for the
reduction in demand for ethanol and
biodiesel resulting from the waivers, us-
ing the number of gallons that the De-
partment of Energy recommends waiv-
ing.
But the Trump administration earlier
this month told farm groups it would
use the average of the actual number of
renewable fuel gallons that are waived,
which is much larger. “Any proposal that
does not account for actual waived gal-
lons under the Renewable Fuel Stan-
dard fails to restore the integrity of the
law,” Greif said in a statement.
The difference between the two is
significant, said Shaw.
The Energy Department, which pro-
vides an initial review of small refinery
exemption requests, most recently rec-
ommended granting waivers for 770
million gallons of renewable fuels. The
EPA, however, approved waivers for 1.
billion gallons during its last round of
exemptions.
Since taking office, the Trump ad-
ministration has granted 85 waivers to
oil refineries, freeing them from using 4
billion gallons of renewable fuel. The ex-
emptions have killed demand for 1.4 bil-
lion bushels of corn used to make etha-
nol, industry officials say.
“It’s not a shock that the EPA is trying
to water down” the plan the Trump ad-
ministration announced earlier this
month, Shaw said.
The administration in the Oct. 4 an-
nouncement said Trump had made a
deal with Iowa Republicans, including
U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni
Ernst, and Gov. Kim Reynolds, to in-
crease renewable fuel demand.
Grassley said in a statement Tuesday
that Iowa farmers and renewable fuels
plants will have to trust the EPA to ade-
quately account for the waived gallons.
“The ethanol and biodiesel indus-
tries have a lot of cause to distrust EPA,
and that is understandable,” Grassley
said. “But President Trump brokered
this deal, and any attempt to undermine
it from EPA would represent a betrayal
of the president. I expect EPA would not
do that after all the work that’s gone into
this issue.”

Ernst and Reynolds said in separate

statements they would do everything

they could to hold the EPA accountable.

“I understand the biofuel industry’s

frustration and distrust following the

EPA’s announcement today,” Reynolds

said. “The next 30-day comment period

is crucial to making sure the EPA follows

through on the president’s commit-

ment.”

A public hearing is scheduled to be

held Oct. 30 in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Growth Energy, a Washington, D.C.,

ethanol association, called on the EPA to

hold the public hearing in Iowa “so more

Midwest families racing to complete

this year’s harvest will have an opportu-

nity to share their views.

“The farm families hit hardest by EPA

exemptions deserve a seat at the table,

and that can’t happen if the EPA refuses

to hold a hearing in a central location,

closer to millions of voices who cannot

afford to leave the farm,” said Emily

Skor, Growth Energy’s CEO.

The decline in demand for ethanol

and biodiesel has been a double blow to

farmers already dealing with depressed

prices for corn and soybeans because of

the administration’s trade wars.

The current corn ethanol require-

ment is 15 billion gallons.

Shaw said it will be tough for many

farmers to trust EPA.

“We couldn’t trust the EPA to stick to

the deal for 11 days,” Shaw said. “We

haven’t been able to trust EPA for the

last two years with the RFS.”

Few Iowa renewable fuels or farm

groups would have supported the Oct. 4

plan if they had known how the EPA

planned to implement it, Shaw said.

“We all said it has to be real numbers.

It has to be accountable,” Shaw said.

“And it has to send a market signal.”

Grant Kimberley, Iowa Biodiesel

Board’s executive director, said he be-

lieved the EPA’s proposal would be

“likely to inflict further damage on the

already struggling biodiesel industry

and farm economy.”

Nearly 30 U.S. ethanol and biodie-

sel plants have closed either tempora-

rily or permanently because of the ex-

emptions. Four are in Iowa.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, an Iowa

Democrat, said the EPA’s proposed

rule “is another in a long string of bro-

ken promises for our farmers and bio-

fuel producers.”

The proposal leaves “farmers and

biofuel producers with no guarantee

that the billions of gallons of biofuels

exempted from the mandate would

ever be restored, as has long been

promised by the Trump administra-

tion and EPA,” Loebsack said.

The Renewable Fuels Association

called the EPA’s proposal a “step back-

ward.”

“It falls short of delivering on Presi-

dent Trump’s pledge to restore integri-

ty to the Renewable Fuel Standard and

leaves farmers, ethanol producers,

and consumers with more questions

than answers,” Geoff Cooper, the

group’s CEO, said in a statement.

“This proposal is not what was

promised by the administration just

over a week ago and fails to answer

President Trump’s personal call for a

stronger conventional biofuel require-

ment of more than 15 billion” gallons,

Cooper said.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Associa-

tion said the EPA’s proposal “reneges

on the core principle” of Trump’s plan

earlier this month.

“It is unreasonable and counterpro-

ductive to expect Iowans to put their

faith in EPA to fix the small refinery ex-

emption problem when they were the

ones who created the crisis in the first

place,” Shaw said.

The EPA released details of its plan

as part of a supplemental document to

the 2020 biofuels requirement. It was

required to be filed by Nov. 30.

In a statement earlier this month,

the EPA said that under its plan, it

would seek comments on actions “to

ensure that more than 15 billion gal-

lons of conventional ethanol be blend-

ed into the nation’s fuel supply.” But it

did not specify how many gallons will

be restored beginning next year.

Kelly Nieuwenhuis, a farmer and Siouxland Energy Cooperative board of directors chairman, stands in the empty corn
storage bunker that would have been filled with corn. KELSEY KREMER/USA TODAY NETWORK

Fuel

Continued from Page 1B

“The ethanol and biodiesel industries

have a lot of cause to distrust EPA,

and that is understandable. But

President Trump brokered this deal,

and any attempt to undermine it from

EPA would represent a betrayal of the

president. I expect EPA would not do

that after all the work that’s gone into

this issue.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley

Jeep fans take their vehicles serious-
ly, and they don’t stomach any impos-
ters, especially any little blue ones.
“It’s a Jeep thing,” as they say.
So it was welcome news to many
when Apple ended a sacrilege with its
most recent smartphone software up-
date. The little blue vehicle emoji that
would pop up as a suggestion whenever
you typed “Jeep” for your iPhone texts is
gone with the latest version, iOS 13.1.2.
An article last week in Ad Age noted
that the emoji “still appears when ge-
neric phrases like ‘SUV’ and ‘car’ and
‘automobile’ are typed.”
In a nod, with a twist to a Jeep Wran-
gler claim, one Twitter user said simply,
“Least capable emoji ever. Good rid-

dance!” The Wrangler version of that

phrase, of course, has to do with it being

the “most capable SUV.”

Naturally, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

has seized the opportunity presented by

the change in order to run a social media

campaign highlighting the brand’s call-

ing card. Some images, with the helpful

hashtag “#ThisIsNotJeep,” show the lit-

tle blue vehicle not crossing a couple of

streams, either perched on a rock or

with grille submerged, or simply stuck

in the snow.

In another spot on Instagram, some-

one tries to complete a text about driv-

ing a Jeep Wrangler and getting pro-

gressively more frustrated when that

little blue vehicle keeps popping up.

“This is not Jeep,” the spot says,

showing the emoji. A moment later, a

blue Wrangler bursts aggressively

through some not-too-shallow water as

the words, “This is,” appear on the

screen.

After showing the full Jeep lineup

parked in some desert-like location,

wording on the end scene declares:

“Jeep: Now emoji free.”

FCA Chief Marketing Officer Olivier

Francois said in a statement that Jeep

fans have voiced “dismay” over an emoji

that “misrepresented” the brand.

“The Jeep brand is opposed to this

emoji being connected with its name

and we’re happy the association has

been removed from the latest iOS up-

date. We’re good-naturedly celebrating

its demise with our owners and fans

through this social media campaign,

while firmly making it known that any

SUV that does not carry the Jeep brand

name cannot pass itself off as one of our

vehicles,” Francois said.

It’s not clear why the change was

made. Apple did not respond to multiple

requests for comment, and FCA said it

did not reach out to Apple.

iPhone nixes Jeep imposter emoji

Eric D. Lawrence
Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY NETWORK

FCA is celebrating Apple’s decision to

drop the blue vehicle emoji connection

to Jeep in iPhone texts with a

campaign highlighting how the

‘imposter’ is not a Jeep.JEEP BRAND