DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

TA-W-57,446

HERCULES INCORPORATION
AQUALON DIVISION
PARLIN, NEW JERSEY

Notice of Negative Determination
on Reconsideration

On August 19, 2005, the Department issued an Affirmative
Determination Regarding Application for Reconsideration for the
workers and former workers of Hercules Incorporation, Aqualon
Division, Parlin, New Jersey (“Hercules”). The Department’s
Notice was published in the Federal Register on September 1, 2005
(70 FR 52131). The petition date is June 24, 2005.
The Department initially denied Trade Adjustment Assistance
(TAA) and Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) to the
subject worker group On July 20, 2005 because the subject company
did not separate or threaten to separate a significant number or
proportion of workers as required by Section 222 of the Trade Act
during the relevant period.
In the request for reconsideration, the petitioner alleged
that the company separated a majority of the workers at the Power
House, which produces steam used in the production of a chemical
called Natrosol and that the Power House supplied a component
(steam) to a company which was certified for TAA during January
2004.
The reconsideration investigation revealed that the Power
House produced steam that was both used to produce Natrosol at
the Parlin, New Jersey plant and sold to a TAA-certified company.
To be certified as secondarily-affected, workers must be
employed by a company which, during the relevant period, supplied
a component part to a TAA-certified company and the separations
are related to the production of the import-impacted article.
Because the sale of steam to the TAA-certified company
ceased in 2003, loss of business to that company prior to the
relevant period cannot be used as a basis for TAA certification
for workers at the Hercules Power House.
Further, the reconsideration investigation revealed that the
Power House, which is eighty years old and in need of repair,
will be replaced by a newer, automated, and more cost-efficient
structure which requires less staff to operate.
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 Hercules
Incorporation, Aqualon Division, Parlin, New Jersey.
Signed at Washington, D.C., this 13th day of September 2005.


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