[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 11, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10618-10619]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-5180]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-64,442]


Technology Associates, Inc., D/B/A Ranal Measurement Point 
Division, Auburn, MI; Notice of Negative Determination Regarding 
Application for Reconsideration

    By application dated January 22, 2009, workers requested 
administrative reconsideration of the Department's negative 
determination regarding eligibility for workers and former workers of 
Technologies Associates Inc., d/b/a Ranal, Measurement Point division, 
Auburn, Michigan (subject firm) to apply for Trade Adjustment 
Assistance (TAA) and Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA).
    The negative determination was issued on December 24, 2008. The 
Department's Notice of negative determination was published in the 
Federal Register on January 14, 2009 (74 FR 2139). The workers perform 
engineering service related to measurement points on component parts 
for the automotive industry. The denial was based on the finding that 
the subject firm does not produce an article within the meaning of 
Section 222(a)(2) of the Act.
    The workers' request for reconsideration stated that ``the 
petitioners were support personnel to General Motors * * * General 
Motors has trained workers in India to perform functions that we use[d] 
to perform and shipped work there. * * * If work was not being 
disbursed to India that work would be available to domestic workers.''
    Pursuant to 29 CFR 90.18(c), administrative 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;

[[Page 10619]]

    (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 Department has consistently determined that articles (whether 
tangible or intangible) produced incidental to the provision of a 
service are not considered articles for purposes of the Trade Act of 
1974. Further, even if the ``Measurement Point Drawings and Electronic 
Measurement files'' were articles, for purposes of the Trade Act, the 
shift of production was not by the subject firm but by the firm's 
customer (General Motors).
    In order to apply for TAA, the subject worker group must meet the 
group eligibility requirements for directly-impacted (primary) workers 
under Section 222(a) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, based on a 
shift of production, the Department must find that there has been a 
shift in production by such workers' firm or subdivision to a foreign 
country of articles like or directly competitive with articles which 
are produced by such firm or subdivision.
    After careful review of the request for reconsideration, the 
support documentation, and previously submitted materials, the 
Department determines that there is no new information that supports a 
finding that Section 222 of the Trade Act of 1974 was satisfied and 
that no mistake or misinterpretation of the facts or of the law with 
regards to the number or proportion of workers separated from the 
subject firm during the relevant period.

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 decision. Accordingly, the application is denied.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 3rd day of March 2009.
Elliott S. Kushner,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. E9-5180 Filed 3-10-09; 8:45 am]
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