[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 152 (Tuesday, August 9, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46190-46191]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-4292]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-56,688]


Lands' End, a Subsidiary of Sears Roebuck and Company, Business 
Outfitters CAD Operations, Dodgeville, WI; Notice of Negative 
Determination on Reconsideration

    On June 6, 2005, the Department issued an Affirmative Determination 
Regarding Application for Reconsideration for the workers and former 
workers of the subject firm. The notice was published in the Federal 
Register on June 20, 2005 (70 FR 35456).
    The Department denied Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and 
Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) to workers of Lands' 
End, a Subsidiary of Sears Roebuck and Company, Business Outfitters CAD 
Operations, Dodgeville, Wisconsin, because the workers' separations 
were not due to a shift of production overseas or increased imports of 
articles, but due to the subject company's decision to move computer 
assisted design operations abroad. The subject worker group is engaged 
in computerizing embroidery and logo designs which are utilized by the 
production division of Lands' End, also located in Dodgeville, 
Wisconsin. Workers in the Business Outfitters CAD Operations are 
separately identifiable from those workers who produce embroidered 
goods (clothing, tote bags, etc.) at Lands' End, Dodgeville, Wisconsin.
    In the request for reconsideration, the petitioners alleged that 
workers produce an article (digitized embroidery designs), that 
digitized embroidery design production shifted overseas, and that 
imports of digitized embroidery design increased.
    During the reconsideration investigation, the Department contacted 
the petitioners and Lands' End officials

[[Page 46191]]

to better understand the operations of the subject worker group and to 
obtain information which will enable the Department to address the 
petitioners' allegations.
    According to the petitioners, the workers use a computer program to 
convert customers' logos from a two-dimensional form to one which is 
readable by the embroidery machines at the Dodgeville, Wisconsin 
facility. Petitioners also allege that foreign companies are digitizing 
the design work, using a remote file transfer protocol site and the 
Internet to receive the logos from Lands' End and to send digitized 
logos back to Lands' End. A company official confirmed that the 
electronic digitizing of embroidery logos shifted overseas and that 
sample stitching and the production of embroidered goods remain at the 
Dodgeville, Wisconsin facility.
    Based on this information, the Department has determined that the 
subject workers do not produce an article. As such, the second and 
third allegations, the shift of digitized design production abroad and 
the increased imports of digitized designs, are rendered moot.
    During the reconsideration investigation, the Department also 
inquired into Lands' End's reasons for shifting digitization of the 
designs abroad and was informed that the subject company wanted to 
utilize the time difference between the countries in order to more 
quickly satisfy customers' demands for embroidered goods. By doing so, 
the subject company can have logos digitized ``overnight'' and be ready 
to be used when the American production workers return to work the next 
day.

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 28th day of July 2005.
Elliott S. Kushner,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. E5-4292 Filed 8-8-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P