[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 74 (Friday, April 16, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20644-20645]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-862]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment And Training Administration

[TA-W-53,648]


International Business Machines Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma; 
Notice of Negative Determination Regarding Application for 
Reconsideration

    By application of February 6, 2004, a petitioner requested 
administrative reconsideration of the Department's negative 
determination regarding eligibility for workers and former workers of 
the subject firm to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). The 
denial notice applicable to workers of International Business Machines 
Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma was signed on December 2, 2003, and 
published in the Federal Register on January 16, 2004 (69 FR 2622).
    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 TAA petition was filed on behalf of workers at International 
Business Machines Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma, engaged in accounting 
services. The petition was denied because the workers' firm does not 
produce an article within the meaning of section 222 of the Trade Act 
of 1974. Indeed, IBM does not produce an article at the Tulsa facility.
    The petitioner refers to the British Petroleum Accounting Center 
operated by IBM which was certified eligible for TAA in 1999. The 
petitioner further states that layoffs at the subject firm can be 
attributed to the decision of British Petroleum to shift its oil 
production abroad, consequently, the petitioning workers should be 
eligible for trade adjustment assistance.
    A company official was contacted in regard to these allegations. 
The official stated that there is no affiliation between the subject 
facility and British Petroleum. It was also revealed that International 
Business Machines Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma provides accounting 
services to British Petroleum at many locations in the United States 
and abroad out of its own facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
    The fact that service workers have customers or clients that may be 
eligible for trade adjustment assistance does not automatically make 
the service workers eligible for TAA. Before service workers can be 
considered eligible for TAA, they must be in direct support of an 
affiliated facility currently certified for TAA or employed on a 
contractual basis at a location currently certified for TAA. This is 
not the case for the workers at International Business Machines 
Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
    The petitioner further alleges that ``the center in Tulsa, OK has 
previously been covered under the TRA program,'' thus petitioning 
workers of the subject firm should also be eligible for TAA.
    The same workers have been providing the same accounting services 
at the same Tulsa location for a number of years. However, the identity 
of their employer has changed twice over the pertinent period. Thus, 
the Department's records indicate workers, including accountants then 
working at the Tulsa facility, at AMOCO Exploration and Production, and 
AMOCO Shared Services, operating in the state of Oklahoma, were 
certified eligible to apply for adjustment assistance on February 19, 
1999 (TA-W-36,309N). That certification was amended on March 14, 1999, 
to reflect new ownership and a name change to BP/AMOCO, AMOCO 
Exploration and Production, AMOCO Shared Services, A/K/A AMOCO 
Production Company, Inc., operating in the state of Oklahoma. Workers 
certified in that instance were determined to be ``engaged in 
activities related to exploration and production of crude oil and 
natural gas.'' That certification expired February 19, 2001. Thus, 
there is no current certification of eligibility for workers at the 
Tulsa facility. The previous certification has no bearing on the 
determination of eligibility at this time.
    Department records show no previous certifications for the Tulsa 
facility on the part of the current owner of the Tulsa facility, 
International Business Machines Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
    The petitioner finally states that International Business Machines 
Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma has moved a significant number of jobs to 
India.
    Accounting services do not constitute production according to the 
eligibility requirements for trade adjustment assistance. Thus, the 
alleged shift of jobs to India is irrelevant to this investigation.

[[Page 20645]]

    Only in very limited instances are service workers certified for 
TAA. The worker separations must be caused by a reduced demand for 
their services from a parent or controlling firm or subdivision whose 
workers produce an article and who are currently under certification 
for TAA. Unlike the workers at the Tulsa, Oklahoma location employed 
under the AMOCO corporate umbrella, workers at International Business 
Machines, Tulsa, Oklahoma do not perform services for a parent or 
controlling firm or subdivision currently under certification for TAA.

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 in Washington, DC, this 31st day of March, 2004.
Richard Church,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
 [FR Doc. E4-862 Filed 4-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-13-P