[Federal Register: January 11, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 8)]
[Notices]               
[Page 2454-2455]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11ja01-126]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-38,192 and NAFTA-4187]

 
Metal Powder Products Company Logan, OH; Notice of Negative 
Determination Regarding Application for Reconsideration

    By application dated December 13, 2000, the International 
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local Lodge 55, 
District 28, requested administrative reconsideration of the 
Department's negative determination regarding eligibility to apply for 
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and North American Free Trade 
Agreement-Transitional Adjustment Assistance (NAFTA-TAA), applicable to 
workers and former workers of the subject firm. The denial notices were 
signed November 30, 2000, and published in the Federal Register on 
December 21, 2000; the TAA at (65 FR 80457) and the NAFTA-TAA at (65 FR 
80458).
    Pursuant to 29 CFR 90.18(c) reconsideration may be granted under 
the following circumstances:
    (1) If it appears on the basis of facts not previously considered 
that the determination complained of was erroneous;
    (2) If it appears that the determination complained of was based on 
a mistake in the determination of facts not previously considered; or
    (3) If in the opinion of the Certifying Officer, a 
misinterpretation of facts or of the law justified reconsideration of 
the decision.
    The denial of TAA for workers producing powdered metal parts for 
industrial applications at Metal Powder Products Company, Logan, Ohio, 
was based on the finding that the ``contributed importantly'' criterion 
of the group eligibility requirements of section 222 of the Trade Act 
of 1974 was not met. The subject firm transferred all of the production 
from Logan, Ohio to other domestic facilities. Prior to the closure of 
the Metal Powder Products Company plant in Logan, Ohio, sales and 
production remained nearly constant.

[[Page 2455]]

    The Department's denial of NAFTA-TAA for the same worker group was 
based on the finding that criteria (3) and (4) of the group eligibility 
requirements of paragraph (a)(1) of section 250 of the Trade Act of 
1974, as amended, were not met. There was no shift in production of 
powder metal parts from the subject firm to Mexico or Canada, nor were 
there company imports of like or directly competitive products from 
Mexico or Canada.
    The petitioner asserts that the subject firm took some of the key 
management staff to the Powder Metal Products plant in Mexico and 
production there has increased. Although not elaborated on in the 
initial investigation, the company acknowledged a recent acquisition of 
a plant in Mexico. That plant, however, serves the auto market in that 
country and none of the production was shifted from Logan, Ohio to 
Mexico, nor will any of the production be coming back to the United 
States.
    The petitioner also provided a shipping label from Metal Powder 
Specialities in Logan, Ohio, to an address in Mexico. The shipping 
label to Mexico, by itself, does not present any new information which 
would warrant worker group certification.

Conclusion

    After review of the application and investigative findings, I 
conclude that there has been no error or misinterpretation of the law 
or of the facts which would justify reconsideration of the Department 
of Labor's prior decisions. Accordingly, the application is denied.

    Signed at Washington, DC this 26th day of December 2000.
Edward A. Tomchick,
Director, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. 01-948 Filed 1-10-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-M