[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 117 (Monday, June 20, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35456-35457]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-3164]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-55,574]


Philips Lighting Company, a Subsidiary of Royal Philips 
Electronics, Paris, TX; Notice of Revised Determination of Alternative 
Trade Adjustment Assistance on Remand

    On March 9, 2005, the U.S. Court of International Trade (USCIT) 
granted the Department of Labor's motion for a voluntary remand in 
Former Employees of Philips Lighting Company v. United States Secretary 
of Labor, Court No. 04-00651.
    On September 29, 2004, the Department issued a determination for 
the September 2, 2004 petition filed on behalf of workers at the 
subject company. The workers were certified as eligible to apply for 
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and ineligible to apply for 
Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA). The Notice of 
determination was published in the Federal Register on October 26, 2004 
(69 FR 62462).
    By letter dated December 19, 2004, the International Brotherhood of 
Electrical Workers, Local 1794, appealed to the USCIT for 
administrative reconsideration of the Department's negative 
determination regarding the subject worker group's eligibility to apply 
for ATAA and requested an extension of the certification period to 
include workers who were separated prior to September 2, 2003 (one year 
prior to the petition date).
    Pursuant to the USCIT's March 9, 2005 order, the Department has 
conducted an investigation on remand to determine the workers' 
eligibility to apply for ATAA certification.
    The group eligibility certification criteria for the ATAA program 
under

[[Page 35457]]

section 246 the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, established that the 
Department must determine whether a significant number of workers in 
the workers' firm are 50 years of age or older, whether the workers in 
the workers' firm possess skills that are not easily transferable, and 
whether the competitive conditions within the workers' industry are 
adverse.
    During the initial determination, the Department determined that at 
least five percent of the workforce at the subject firm is at least 
fifty years of age, that workers of the subject firm possess skills 
that are easily transferable, and that competitive conditions within 
the industry are adverse.
    During the remand investigation, the Department obtained new 
information, including information that shows that the average salary 
level of workers with similar skills as the worker group declined 
significantly during the investigatory period, that manufacturing 
employment opportunities within a 120-mile radius of the subject firm 
are scarce, and that existing manufacturing companies in the county 
which the subject company is located are not seeking hiring workers 
with those skills which are possessed by the subject worker group.
    The Department cannot grant the petitioner's request to extend the 
certification period to include workers who were separated prior to 
September 2, 2003 because the applicable regulation, 29 CFR 
90.16(e)(1), states that exclusions from coverage of a certification of 
eligibility include any worker whose last total or partial separation 
from the subject firm occurred more than one year before the date of 
the petition.

Conclusion

    After careful review of the facts, I conclude that the requirements 
of section 246 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, have been met for 
workers at the subject firm. In accordance with the provisions of the 
Act, I make the following certification:

All workers of Philips Lighting Company, A Subsidiary of Royal 
Philips Electronics, Paris, Texas, who became totally or partially 
separated from employment on or after September 2, 2003 through 
September 29, 2006, are eligible to apply for adjustment assistance 
under section 223 of the Trade Act of 1974, and are also eligible to 
apply for alternative trade adjustment assistance under section 246 
of the Trade Act of 1974.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 7th day of June 2005.
Elliott S. Kushner,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. E5-3164 Filed 6-17-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P