[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 236 (Thursday, December 9, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 71433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-3579]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-54,635]


Westside Stitching, Inc., West Wyoming, PA; Notice of Negative 
Determination on Remand

    The United States Court of International Trade (USCIT) granted the 
Department of Labor's request for voluntary remand of the negative 
determination on reconsideration in Former Employees of Westside 
Stitching, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor (Court No. 04-00410).
    The Department's denial of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and 
Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) for the workers of 
Westside Stitching, Inc., West Wyoming, Pennsylvania was issued on June 
16, 2004 and was published in the Federal Register on July 7, 2004 (69 
FR 40983). Workers produce motion furniture. The investigation revealed 
no shift of production or increased imports of motion furniture during 
the relevant period by the subject company or its customers.
    By application of July 12, 2004, the company requested 
administrative reconsideration of the negative determination, alleging 
that the subject firm lost business due to its major customer importing 
lift mechanisms from China.
    The Notice of Negative Determination Regarding Application for 
Reconsideration was issued on August 3, 2004 and was published in the 
Federal Register on August 11, 2004 (69 FR 48895). The request was 
denied because lift mechanisms are a component part of motion furniture 
and because the company's major declining customer did not import 
motion furniture.
    On October 5, 2004, the USCIT granted a consent motion for 
voluntary remand and ordered the Department to conduct a further 
investigation and determine whether the petitioning workers are 
eligibility for trade adjustment assistance.
    In response to Plaintiff's allegations regarding alleged increased 
imports of lift mechanisms, the Department contacted the company to 
ascertain whether the subject facility produced lift mechanisms. The 
investigation revealed that the subject company produces motion 
furniture and not lift mechanisms.
    Pursuant to 29 CFR Section 90.2, ``[a]n imported article is 
directly competitive with a domestic article at an earlier or later 
stage of processing, and a domestic article is directly competitive 
with an imported article at an earlier or later stage of processing, if 
the importation of the article has an economic effect on producers of 
the domestic article comparable to the effect of importation of 
articles in the same stage of processing as the domestic article.''
    The Department has consistently determined that the economic impact 
of imported component parts is not competitive with the economic impact 
of imported final products.
    The determination that components of a product are not like or 
directly competitive with the final product is consistent with Gropper 
v. Donovan, 6 CIT 103, 104, 569 F.Supp. 883, 884 (1983) where the court 
held that ``a component, such as finished fabric, is not `like or 
directly competitive' with an end product, such as knit fabric 
garments, within the meaning of section 222(3) [of the Trade Act].'' 
Because the subject company produced only the final product, increased 
imports of component parts, absent increased imports of the final 
product, cannot be the basis for TAA certification.
    The Department also conducted another survey of the subject 
company's major declining customer regarding import purchases of 
articles produced at the subject facility during the relevant period, 
2002, 2003, January through March 2003 and January through March 2004. 
The survey revealed that the customer did not import motion furniture 
during the relevant period.
    Because no basis for TAA certification of the subject worker group 
was found, an investigation to determine ATAA certification was not 
conducted.

Conclusion

    After reconsideration on remand, I affirm the original notice of 
negative determination of eligibility to apply for adjustment 
assistance for workers and former workers of Westside Stitching, Inc., 
West Wyoming, Pennsylvania.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 2nd day of December 2004.
Elliott S. Kushner,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. E4-3579 Filed 12-8-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P