[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 182 (Thursday, September 18, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54174-54175]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-21841]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-62,955]


Pitney Bowes Tech Central Infrastructure & Support Services, 
Danbury, CT; Notice of Negative Determination on Reconsideration

    On July 15, 2008, 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 July 21, 2008 (73 FR 42368).
    The initial investigation resulted in a negative determination 
based on the finding that worker group does not produce an article 
within the meaning of section 222 for the Trade Act of 1974. The 
investigation revealed that workers of Pitney Bowes, Tech Central 
Infrastructure & Support Services, Danbury, Connecticut performed IT 
technical support for Pitney Bowes, Inc., which included tech support 
for the mainframe, network, and supporting software, including 
upgrades, installs, patches, maintenance, help desk support and repair.
    In the request for reconsideration the petitioner stated that 
workers of Tech Central Infrastructure & Support Services are Computer 
Operations Management and Staff, Server Engineering and Support, 
Network Engineering and Support, Telecommunications Engineering and 
Support and various Application Support group (HR, SAP, Lotus Notes, 
etc.) The petitioner further alleged that the workers of the subject 
firm supported production of Postage Meters by building custom servers, 
applications and infrastructure, ``built the physical equipment that 
allows Pitney Bowes to offer additional products and services'' and 
``supported production of custom stamps by designing, implementation, 
storage and support of this product.''
    On reconsideration, the Department contacted a company official and 
requested additional information regarding the production of various 
products by Pitney Bowes and whether workers of the subject firm 
supported production of the above mentioned products.
    The company official stated that Pitney Bowes, Inc. bought servers 
from a third-party vendor and in no sense built these servers or 
develop applications or code. Furthermore, the company official stated 
that the workers of the subject firm neither built physical equipment 
nor designed or created the

[[Page 54175]]

Stamp products. The company official stated that some of the 
petitioning workers may have loaded software of the Stamp Expressions 
product on the servers and/or connected the software to the network.
    The petitioner further alleged that production of the above-
mentioned articles has been shifted to India and thus workers of the 
Tech Central Infrastructure & Support Services, Danbury, Connecticut 
should be eligible for TAA.
    The company official denied this allegation and stated that 
production of postage meters, custom stamps, and similar Pitney Bowes 
equipment is continuing to be produced in the United States and that 
there was no shift in production of these articles to India or any 
other foreign country.
    The company official stated that some information support functions 
have been outsourced to a third party vendor, both in the United States 
and India. However, this outsourcing does not include any outsourcing 
in production.
    The allegation of a shift to another country might be relevant if 
it was determined that workers of the subject firm produced an article. 
Since the investigation determined that workers of Pitney Bowes, Tech 
Central Infrastructure & Support Services, Danbury, Connecticut do not 
produce an article, there can not be imports nor a shift in production 
of an ``article'' abroad within the meaning of the Trade Act of 1974 in 
this instance.

Conclusion

    After reconsideration, I affirm the original notice of negative 
determination of eligibility to apply for worker adjustment assistance 
for workers and former workers of Pitney Bowes, Tech Central 
Infrastructure & Support Services, Danbury, Connecticut.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 9th day of September, 2008.
Elliott S. Kushner,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. E8-21841 Filed 9-17-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FN-P