Biden, EU leader hold talks on EV proposal
Should remote workers take hush trips?
WASHINGTON, March 12, (AP): Emily Smith was working two jobs - at a hotel and at a retail store when she realized she was in dire need of a break. Smith, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, says her employers didn’t usually approve of her vacation days, so she invented a fake family emergency, claiming she’d need to work from home. Instead, she went to Las Vegas.
“I took meetings poolside, and I timed my flights to happen outside working hours,” she says. “All my work was completed in a timely manner so neither of my bosses ever asked.”
That was back in 2012, when most jobs demanded an in-person presence. About 10 years later, more people are working remotely (or poolside like Smith). According to U.S. Census Bureau data released in 2022, more than 27.6 million people worked primarily from home in 2021. That’s triple the number of people working from home in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even with the rise of remote work, some workers are hesitant or don’t feel the need to tell their employers when they plan to work from another location outside of their home. That’s why they’ve
Simultaneously, the U.S. and its allies devoted billions to provide Ukraine with weapons, munitions and other military aid and direct financial assistance.
More than 30 countries, including the U.S., EU nations, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan started taking “hush trips,” where employees work from a vacation destination without revealing their true whereabouts to their boss. Often, these workers will take advantage of leisure activities in their off hours, combining work and play into one trip.
Recreational vehicle rental website RVshare commissioned a survey, conducted by Wakefield Research, about hush trips and other travel trends in September 2022. According to the survey , 56% of working American adults said they are “very” or “extremely” likely to partake in a hush trip. And 36% of Generation X and millennials claim to already have one planned for 2023.
For those with employers that are stingy about vacation days, hush trips can provide rejuvenation. However, some employers disapprove of the secrecy and don’t want workers anywhere besides their home office, period. But does it even matter if workers share their whereabouts?
Problems that can accompany hush trips
Amy Marcum, a human resource manager with HR service provider Insperity, warns that hush trips can cause friction if word gets out.
and others — representing more than half the world’s economy are part of the unprecedented effort. They’ve imposed price caps on Russian oil and diesel, frozen Russian Central Bank funds and restricted access to SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions.
WASHINGTON, March 12, (AP): President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met Friday to try to complete a plan that the White House hopes will turn the page on a spat between the U.S. and European Union over electric vehicle tax credits.
Biden and von der Leyen were expected to agree to open negotiations between the U.S. and the EU on a deal that could boost the use of European minerals critical in the production of electric vehicle batteries that are eligible for U.S. tax credits through Biden’s roughly $375 billion clean energy law that passed last year, according to White House officials.
Biden at the start of the meeting said he and von der Leyen would discuss “driving new investments to create clean energy industries and jobs and make sure we have supply chains available” for both continents.
Biden and von der Leyen are also expected to use their Oval Office meeting to discuss Western coordination to support Ukraine in the war against Russia, joint efforts to decrease Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels and the Biden administration’s growing concerns that China is considering providing weaponry to Russia for use in the war.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that an agreement “with like minded partners” could help provide a measure of “security and stability by ensuring the United States and allies and partners are not reliant on China for critical minerals.” White House officials hope an agreement with the EU can be reached soon, but also plan to consult members of Congress, labor groups and others with a stake in the outcome.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, testifying Friday before the House Ways and Means Committee, said the administration is trying create “surgical agreements” that “permit our close allies to also contribute minerals and their processing” for use in electric vehicles that are assembled in North America.
“This is going to be a vast and growing market,” she said.
Von der Leyen and other European leaders have voiced opposition to incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act that Biden signed in August that favor American-made electric vehicles. The legislation stipulates that for U.S. consumers to be eligible for a tax credit of up to $7,500 on their EV purchase, the EV’s battery must largely contain minerals from the U.S. or a country with which the U.S. has a free-trade agreement. Additionally, 50% of components in batteries must be manufactured or assembled in North America by 2024, with that percentage rising gradually to 100% by 2028.
The European Commission, in part, responded by launching its own Green Deal Industrial Plan l ast month in response to Biden’s legislation. The measure is expected to make it much easier to push through subsidies for green industries and pool EU-wide projects.
“I think it’s great that there is such a massive investment in new
and clean technologies now,” von der Leyen said, referring to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. “Indeed, we want to match it with the Green Deal Industrial Plan.”
James Batchik, assistant director of the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council, said the U.S. and EU “getting on the same page” is an important step “to avoid a subsidy war.”
That said, a resolution will depend on the details of any future agreement, Batchik added.
Biden stood by the policy that favors American EVs when French President Emmanuel Macron, a critic of the legislation, visited Washington late last year. Biden, however, acknowledged “glitches” in the legislation and said there were “tweaks we can make” to satisfy allies.
Ensuring access to critical minerals has been top of mind at the White House as administration officials aim to promote American electric vehicle manufacturing and other clean energy technologies.
Biden last year announced he was using the Defense Production Act to boost production of lithium and other minerals used to power electric vehicles. Experts said the move by itself is unlikely to ensure the robust domestic mining the Democratic president seeks as he promotes cleaner energy sources.