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TAW-60059  /  Hoover Precision Products, Inc. (Washington, IN)

Petitioner Type: Company
Impact Date: 09/11/2005
Filed Date: 09/12/2006
Most Recent Update: 09/15/2006
Determination Date: 09/15/2006
Expiration Date: 01/30/2009

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

TA-W-60,059

HOOVER PRECISION PRODUCTS, INC.
WASHINGTON, INDIANA

Notice of Revised Determination
On Remand

On December 13, 2006, the United States Court of
International Trade (USCIT) granted the Department of Labor’s
request for voluntary remand in Former Employees of Hoover
Precision Products, Inc. v. United States (Court No. 06-00381).
In the September 11, 2006 Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)
and Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) petition, a
company official indicated that Hoover Precision Products, Inc.,
Washington, Indiana (subject facility) was a distribution and
warehouse center of carbon steel balls, that the facility was
scheduled to close on September 15, 2006, and that three workers
would be separated as a result of the closure. In support of
the petition, the company official cited NAFTA-4916 (certified
on June 18, 2001; shift of production to Mexico).
During the initial investigation, it was revealed that the
subject facility was engaged in warehousing and distributing
articles produced at an affiliated facility in Mexico, and that
the warehousing and distributing functions were shifting to an
affiliated facility in Georgia.
Based on information obtained during the initial
investigation, the Department determined that the subject
workers were ineligible to apply for TAA because they did not
produce an article within the meaning of Section 222(a)(2) of
the Trade Act of 1974.
On September 15, 2006, the Department issued a negative
determination regarding workers’ eligibility to apply for
workers adjustment assistance for the subject workers. The
Department‘s Notice of determination was published in the
Federal Register on September 26, 2006 (71 FR 56172).
By application dated September 29, 2006, three workers
requested administrative reconsideration of the Department’s
negative determination. In the request for reconsideration, the
workers stated that “Washington, IN is a distribution facility.
We distributed components to companies who manufactured them
into their finished products. Hoover Precision in Indiana has
lost a substantial amount of business from at least 3 companies
who are TAA certified. This qualifies our company in
Washington, IN as secondary workers affected by foreign trade.”
For purposes of the Trade Act, a secondarily-affected
company is a company that either supplies components parts for
articles produced by a firm with a currently TAA-certified
worker group or is an assembler or finisher for a firm with a
currently TAA-certified worker group.
In order to be certified as eligible to apply for TAA as
workers of a secondarily-affect company, the following
eligibility requirements must be met:
1) The workers' firm or appropriate subdivision produced an
article during the one year period prior to the petition
date; and
2) A required minimum of the workforce has been laid off in
the 12 months preceding the date of the petition or is
threatened with layoffs (3 workers in groups of fewer than
50, or 5% of the workforce in groups of 50 or more); and
3) Loss of business (during the relevant period) as a
supplier of component parts, a final assembler, or a
finisher for a firm that is currently TAA-certified
contributed importantly to an actual decline in sales or
production, and to a layoff or threat of a layoff.

By letter dated October 3, 2006, the Department dismissed
the workers’ request for reconsideration because the subject
facility did not produce an article, the workers were service
workers who processed imported articles, and the workers were
not eligible for TAA as workers of a secondarily-affected
company. The Department’s Notice of Dismissal of Application
for Reconsideration for the subject facility was published in
the Federal Register on October 16, 2006 (71 FR 60766).
By letter dated October 9, 2006, the workers appealed to
the USCIT for judicial review. The Plaintiffs alleged that they
were production workers and provided personal statements in
support of the allegation. After careful review of the
complaint and the administrative record, the Department filed a
motion for voluntary remand.
On December 13, 2006, the USCIT granted the Department’s
motion for voluntary remand to conduct further investigation and
to make a redetermination regarding the Plaintiffs’ eligibility
to apply for worker adjustment assistance (TAA and ATAA).
To be certified as eligible to apply for TAA, the following
criteria must be met:
1) A significant number or proportion of the workers in
such workers’ firm (or appropriate subdivision of the firm)
have become, or are threatened to become, totally or
partially separated;

2) Sales or production, or both, of such firm or
subdivision have decreased absolutely; and

3) Increases (absolute or relative) of imports of articles
produced by such workers' firm or an appropriate
subdivision thereof contributed importantly to such total
or partial separation, or threat thereof, and to such
decline in sales or production, or

4) There has been a shift in production by such workers'
firm or subdivision to a foreign country of articles like
or directly competitive with articles which are produced by
such firm or subdivision; and the country to which the
workers' firm has shifted production of the articles is a
party to a free trade agreement with the United States, is
a beneficiary country under the Andean Trade Preference
Act, African Growth and Opportunity Act, or the Caribbean
Basin Economic Recovery Act or there has been or is likely
to be an increase in imports of articles that are like or
directly competitive with articles which are or were
produced by such firm or subdivision.

During the remand investigation, the Department reviewed
previously-submitted information, contacted the Plaintiffs, and
requested additional information and clarification from Hoover
Precision Products, Inc. (subject firm).
During the remand investigation, the subject firm provided
new information which revealed that a majority of the subject
workers’ activities was related to production and that the
remaining activities consisted of warehousing and shipping
functions. Based on this new information, the Department
determines that, for purposes of the Trade Act, workers of the
subject facility were engaged in production.
Information obtained during the remand investigation
confirmed previously-submitted information that the subject
facility ceased to operate in September 2006 and that the
subject firm faced increased foreign competition during the
relevant time period.
During the remand investigation, the Department received
additional information which revealed that increased imports of
articles like or directly competitive with carbon steel balls
produced at the subject facility contributed importantly to the
subject workers’ separations.
Based on new information and confirmations obtained during
the remand investigation, the Department determines that TAA
criteria (1), (2) and (3) have been met.
In addition, in accordance with Section 246 the Trade Act
of 1974, as amended, the Department herein presents the results
of its investigation regarding certification of eligibility to
apply for ATAA for older workers.
The group eligibility criteria for ATAA that the Department
must consider under Section 246 of the Trade Act are:
1. Whether a significant number of workers in the
workers' firm are 50 years of age or older.

2. Whether the workers in the workers' firm possess
skills that are not easily transferable.

3. The competitive conditions within the workers'
industry (i.e., conditions within the industry are
adverse).

The Department has determined in the case at hand that ATAA
criterion (1) has not been met. For purposes of the ATAA
program, a significant number means at least three or more
workers in a firm with a workforce of fewer than 50 workers.
During the remand investigation, the Department confirmed
with the subject firm and the Plaintiffs that one worker at the
subject facility is age 50 or over.






Conclusion
After careful review of the facts generated through the
remand investigation, I determine that increased imports of
articles like or directly competitive with carbon steel balls
produced at the subject facility contributed to the total or
partial separation of a significant number or proportion of
workers at the subject facility.
In accordance with the provisions of the Act, I make the
following certification:
"All workers of Hoover Precision Products, Inc., Washington,
Indiana, who became totally or partially separated from
employment on or after September 11, 2005, through two years
from the issuance of this revised determination, are
eligible to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance under
Section 223 of the Trade Act of 1974.”
I further determine that all workers of Hoover Precision
Products, Inc., Washington, Indiana, are denied eligibility to
apply for alternative trade adjustment assistance under Section
246 of the Trade Act of 1974.
Signed at Washington, D.C. this 30th day of January 2007.

/s/ Elliott S. Kushner
______________________________
ELLIOTT S. KUSHNER
Certifying Officer, Division of
Trade Adjustment Assistance
4510-FN-P


DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

TA-W-60,059

HOOVER PRECISION PRODUCTS, INC.
WASHINGTON, INDIANA

Negative Determination Regarding Eligibility
To Apply For Worker Adjustment Assistance
And Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance

In accordance with Section 223 of the Trade Act of 1974, as
amended (19 USC 2273), the Department of Labor herein presents
the results of an investigation regarding certification of
eligibility to apply for worker adjustment assistance.
The investigation was initiated on September 12, 2006 in
response to a petition filed by a company official on behalf of
workers of Hoover Precision Products Inc., Washington, Indiana.
The workers at the subject facility are engaged in warehousing
and distribution services.
The investigation revealed that the subject facility does
not produce an article within the meaning of Section 222(a)(2)
of the Act. In order to be considered eligible to apply for
adjustment assistance under Section 223 of the Trade Act of
1974, the worker group seeking certification (or on whose behalf
certification is being sought) must work for a "firm" or
appropriate subdivision that produces an article and there must
be a relationship between the workers' work and the article
produced by the workers' firm or appropriate subdivision. The
subject worker group does not support a firm or appropriate
subdivision that has produced an article domestically within the
requisite one year period prior to the date of the petition and
thus the worker group can not be considered import impacted or
affected by a shift in production of an article.
In addition, in accordance with Section 246 the Trade Act
of 1974 (26 USC 2813), as amended, the Department of Labor
herein presents the results of its investigation regarding
certification of eligibility to apply for alternative trade
adjustment assistance (ATAA) for older workers.
In order for the Department to issue a certification of
eligibility to apply for ATAA, the worker group must be
certified eligible to apply for trade adjustment assistance
(TAA). Since the workers are denied eligibility to apply for
TAA, the workers cannot be certified eligible for ATAA.


Conclusion
After careful review of the facts obtained in the
investigation, I determine that all workers of Hoover Precision
Products Inc., Washington, Indiana are denied eligibility to
apply for adjustment assistance under Section 223 of the Trade
Act of 1974, and are also denied eligibility to apply for
alternative trade adjustment assistance under Section 246 of the
Trade Act of 1974.
Signed in Washington, D.C., this 15th day of September 2006


/s/Richard Church
______________________________
RICHARD CHURCH
Certifying Officer, Division of
Trade Adjustment Assistance







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