DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

TA-W-54,082

FOUNTAIN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC.
ASSEMBLY BOARD TOOLING DIVISION
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

Notice of Negative Determination
on Reconsideration

On April 23, 2004, 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 May 10, 2004 (69 FR 25926).
The subject worker group produces assembly board tooling which is
used to produce wire harnesses.
The Department denied the initial petition because the
"contributed importantly" and shift of production group
eligibility requirements of Section 222(3) of the Trade Act of
1974, as amended, were not met. The initial investigation
revealed that during the relevant time period, the subject
company neither increased imports of assembly board tooling nor
shifted production abroad. A survey of the subject company’s
major declining customer revealed decreased imports of assembly
board tooling during the relevant time period.
In the request for reconsideration, the company asserted
that because its major customer shifted wire harness production
to Mexico, the subject worker group is eligible for Trade
Adjustment Assistance.
During the reconsideration investigation, the Department
contacted the subject company to clarify the relationship between
assembly board tooling and wire harnesses and contacted the major
customer to inquire about imports of assembly board tooling.
The subject company official explained that the assembly
board tooling consists of assembly boards mounted on a conveyor
system. Assembly boards are boards with pegs arranged in a
specific pattern on it. The assembly boards sit on an apparatus
that moves them from station to station. At various stations,
wires are wrapped around them in a particular fashion, the wires
are taped to maintain the configuration, and the taped units
(wire harnesses) are pulled off the assembly board.
A review of the material revealed that neither the subject
company nor the major customer increased imports or shifted
production of assembly board tooling during the relevant period.
In order for the subject worker group to be considered
eligible to apply for TAA benefits as secondarily-impacted, the
subject firm must have customers that are TAA certified and these
TAA certified customers would represent a significant portion of
the subject company’s business. In addition, the subject company
would have to either produce a component part of the product that
was the basis for the customer’s certification or act as a
downstream producer (assembling or finishing) of the product that
was the basis for that certification.
In the case at hand, the subject company does not produce a
component part of the wire harnesses and is not an assembler or
finisher of wire harnesses. Although assembly board tooling is
used to produce wire harnesses, it is not incorporated into the
wire harnesses. Therefore, the subject company is not considered
to be an upstream supplier to the major customer. Because the
subject worker group assembles the boards and neither assembles
nor finishes the wire harnesses, the subject company is not
considered a downstream producer of wire harnesses.
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 Fountain
Construction Company, Inc., Assembly Board Tooling Division,
Jackson, Mississippi.
Signed at Washington, D.C., this 4th day of June 2004.

/s/ Elliott S. Kushner
__
ELLIOTT S. KUSHNER
Certifying Officer, Division of
Trade Adjustment Assistance