WIOA WAY FORWARD: The House Education and the Workforce Committee is still working in a bipartisan way on WIOA, people familiar with the talks said.

The embattled Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, signed in its current iteration in 2014, funds the bulk of the nation’s work training programs. There’s bipartisan agreement that it’s in need of an update, but previous reauthorization efforts have been tripped up in the details.

Observers expect a bipartisan House bill introduced — and out of committee — by the end of the year, with talks ramping up in the next month or so, said IBM workforce policy executive Yelena Vaynberg.

On the Hill: A House Democratic aide said both parties on the Education and the Workforce Committee are in agreement on two key Democratic priorities: funding for individual training accounts for workers, to the tune of $2 billion over 10 years, and incorporating legislation targeting disconnected youth. On ITAs, Democrats are targeting accounts of about $5,000 for individual workers to spend at select providers, the aide said.

A Republican committee aide said Ed and Workforce Republicans are focused on “redirecting taxpayer dollars away from bloated bureaucracy and towards upskilling America’ workers. In this we have found common cause with our Democrat counterparts.” Still, the aide said in a statement: “Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to.”

On the Senate side, Republican members on the HELP Committee have had internal conversations about WIOA but haven’t heard plans from Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to take it up, a Republican aide said. (Sanders’ office didn’t respond to requests for comment.)

Congress failed to reauthorize the legislation last year, after Democrats failed to reach an agreement with Republicans on funding levels and pushed through a version with four Republican votes, but. House Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx previously expressed optimism to POLITICO that this year would be different.

The program has been “stuck in a low dollar, low impact equilibrium” for decades, said Harry Holzer, a public policy professor at Georgetown University and former chief economist at the Labor Department. Conservatives have balked at pouring more money into a program they see as inefficient, while Democrats have argued it needs more money to function well.

Business side: A coalition of employers and education providers sent a letter to House workforce leaders last week outlining priorities from prioritizing digital literacy to better aligning training with in-demand jobs — a key complaint of some of the legislation’s critics.

Business leaders and Congress are also still eyeing legislation allowing Pell Grants for short-term education programs by the end of the year, said Rya Conrad Bradshaw, corporate markets vice president at the education technology company Cengage.

GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, Nov. 13. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. It’s been 244 days since the Senate received Julie Su’s nomination. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to [email protected] and [email protected]. Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @NickNiedz and @oliviaolanderr.

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FIRST IN SHIFT: Approximately 1.1 to 2.1 million construction workers in the U.S. are being misclassified as independent contractors or paid under the table, according to a new study by The Century Foundation.

The report’s authors estimate that the problematic practices collectively cost workers’ an estimated $12 billion, and off-the-books payments similarly shortchange the government by billions annually. The report also notes the outsize effect on immigrant workers, who make up a considerable portion of the construction workforce, and points to the Northeast and South as two areas where the issue is concentrated.

Those findings may also underestimate the scope of the issue, the report states.

The Labor Department is also in the process of finalizing tougher rules on employers for designating workers as contractors instead of direct employees. In October 2022, DOL proposed language that largely mirrored an Obama-era standard that was unwound by former President Donald Trump.

The final rule has been under review by officials at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs since late September, and the agency has been holding meetings with interested parties during November, opening the possibility that it could be published by the end of the year or early 2024.

GROCERY GAMUT: A new paper argues that the proposed $25 billion deal between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons could violate the nation’s antitrust laws by reducing competition for workers, our Marcia Brown writes in. Specifically, the paper points to how the merger would lead to reduced hours and benefits for employees and reduce union leverage at the bargaining table.

“Workers exercising collective power is pro-competitive and therefore allowing this merger is anticompetitive because it would limit workers bargaining power,” explained Marshall Steinbaum, assistant professor of economics at the University of Utah.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union has been strongly opposed to the Kroger-Albertsons deal, and several local unions supported Steinbaum’s research. Steinbaum is pressing regulators to view the deal’s effect on labor markets and worker bargaining power as a reason to block the deal.

More in the workplace: “At SpaceX, worker injuries soar in Elon Musk’s rush to Mars,” from Reuters.

Even more: “A manufacturer tried the 4-day workweek for 5 days’ pay and won’t go back,” from NPR.

TRY TRY AGAIN: The House has teed up the Labor-H appropriations measure this week as Republican leadership seeks to wiggle out of a bind that’s led to other appropriations bills pulled from consideration.

Members of Congress have filed more than 330 amendments to the labor bill, including GOP-led ones that would reduce OSHA head Doug Parker’s salary to $1,block the NLRB’s joint employer rule and bar funds for any vaccine mandates.

But pressure is building on House Speaker Mike Johnson to devise a strategy to keep the government open without alienating key factions of the Republican caucus that doomed his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy.

Our Ryan Lizza has more about Johnson’s two-step approach that may not be enough to win over House conservatives.

More Hill news: “Pilot training clash threatens to stall aviation bill,” from our Alex Daugherty and Oriana Pawlyk.

Even more Hill news: “As shutdown looms, fed firefighters express concern over continuity of pay and benefits,” from the Government Executive.

WFH WOES: President Joe Biden’s push to get federal staff back to the office isn’t going great, our friends at West Wing Playbook report according to six employees from different administration offices.

“Our political leadership wants to be responsive and do what White House folks like Jeff [Zients] and others are asking, but our hands become tied when it kind of gets down into the nitty gritty of getting it done,” one appointee told WWPB.

RATIFICATION WATCH: A spate of plants rejecting United Auto Workers’ tentative agreement with General Motors are flashing a warning sign for the union, Nick reports for Pros.

UAW Local 598, which represents workers at GM’s assembly plant in Flint, Mich., narrowly voted down the agreement last week, joining at least three other GM facilities, according to a tracker maintained by the union.

Of the results tracked so far, 58 percent of the votes have been in favor of ratification.

Approval for the Ford contract is pacing ahead of GM. President Joe Biden has closely tied himself to UAW President Shawn Fain and held up the contracts as a “game-changer.”

— Related: “Honda Will Give Autoworkers 11% Raise After UAW’s Big Wins,” from Bloomberg.

VEGAS DEAL DONE: Las Vegas workers are celebrating after averting a strike in the hours leading up to their deadline, according to the local Culinary Workers Union.

The union reached an agreement with Wynn Resorts, the last of three resorts after MGM and Caesars, before dawn on Friday, it said. The agreements include “the largest wage increases ever negotiated in the history of the Culinary Union,” the union said, without specifying a dollar amount.

A Wynn spokesperson told The Nevada Independent that the contract agreement “fulfills our shared goal of providing outstanding benefits and overall compensation to our employees in a work environment that is second to none.”

The hospitality workers union is an integral part of the turnout operation that’s provided key backing to Democrats in the battleground state, as we’ve noted.

More union news: “Uber and unions face off over EU gig work law,” from POLITICO Europe.

Even more: “Sierra Club’s boss is at war with his staff. He blames them,” from E&E News’ Robin Bravender.

CARD CHECK CHECK: United Farm Workers in recent weeks won its first union election in California since 2017, The Sacramento Bee reports, with some organizers hopeful that additional workers could soon be organized.

“The victory comes less than six months after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law allowing farmworkers to provide their union vote via ‘card check,’” the Bee notes.

More in California: “Cal State faculty announce rolling strikes in December,” from our Blake Jones.

BORDER HIRING: The Biden administration is gunning for a surge in immigration hiring as part of its $106 billion supplemental funding request, Government Executive reports.

Specifically, the request includes $13.6 billion to hire thousands of people “to keep the Southwest border secure and restrict the flow of fentanyl into the county,” GovExec reports.

The ask “raises questions about how realistic the proposals are given DHS’ previous failures to grow certain components,” the outlet reports.

2024 watch: “Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s 2025 Immigration Plans,” from The New York Times.

— “Biden campaign slams ‘extreme’ and ‘racist’ Trump immigration plans,” from our Myah Ward.

— “US Labor Has Long Been a Stalwart Backer of Israel. That’s Starting to Change,” from Jacobin.

— “This Is How Americans Really Feel About Tipping — And Who They’re Likely To Tip Most,” from HuffPost.

— “Wall Street Is Talking About Unions More Than Ever,” from Bloomberg.

— “As extreme heat soars, laws to protect outdoor workers are bubbling up — and facing resistance,” from STAT.

THAT’S YOUR SHIFT!