[Federal Register: November 12, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 218)]
[Notices]
[Page 65460-65461]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12no04-95]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
[TA-W-54,674, TA-W-54,674A, TA-W-54,674B, TA-W-54,674C, and TA-W-
54,674D]
Major League, Inc., Mount Airy, NC; Major League, Inc., Jasper,
GA; Major League, Inc., McAllen, TX; Major League, Inc., San Antonio,
TX; Major League, Inc., Martinsville, VA; Notice of Revised
Determination on Reconsideration
On September 9, 2004, the Department issued an Affirmative
Determination Regarding Application on Reconsideration applicable to
workers and former workers of the subject firm. The Notice of the
determination was published in the Federal Register on September 22,
2004 (69 FR 56788).
The request for reconsideration, filed on August 3, 2004,
supplemented a previous request for administrative reconsideration
which was dismissed on July 21, 2004 (69 FR 47182) on the ground that
the original application did not contain any new substantial
information that would bear importantly on the Department's
determination denying certification because Major League did not have a
``significant number or proportion'' of workers at its Mount Airy
location who were separated or threatened with separation to meet the
requirement of section 222(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended.
Significantly, the reconsideration request dated August 3, 2004
contended that the petition was filed by Major League on behalf of all
of its workers of ``Major League/Activewear's apparel division,'' and
was not limited to the sole worker for Major League who was located in
Mount Airy, North Carolina.
The investigation of the August 3, 2004 request for reconsideration
revealed that the company official who filed the initial petition,
intended the filing of the petition to be on behalf of all workers of
Major League, Inc., including those working from other locations that
reported to him at Major League's corporate headquarters in Jasper,
Georgia. The company official identified two workers, located in
McAllen, Texas and San Antonio, Texas, respectively, who were separated
from employment with Major League between January and April 2004 along
with the Major League employee located in Mount Airy, North Carolina.
Additional information was also obtained in the reconsideration
investigation regarding the relationship between workers employed by
Major League and the manufacture of apparel at a trade affected
affiliated facility: Active Wear, Inc., Martinsville, Virginia (TA-W-
54,339, certified on March 31, 2004). Major League workers were engaged
in activities relating to the coordination of textile purchases and the
shipping of textiles from Active Wear to Major League. Therefore, the
workers were in support of the manufacture by Active Wear (scheduling
and inventory control related to the textile purchases from Active
Wear). Major League and Active Wear are affiliated by common ownership
and are vertically integrated with regard to the production that took
place at the Active Wear facility in Martinsville, Virginia. Two of the
three shareholders of Major League owned 50% of the stock of Active
Wear.
Section 222(a) of the Trade Act provides, in relevant part, for the
certification of a group of workers when ``a significant number or
proportion of the worker in such workers' firm, or an appropriate
subdivision of the firm, have become totally or partially separated, or
are threatened to become totally or partially separated'' and increased
imports have contributed importantly to such separations. The
Department's regulations at 29 C.F.R. 90.2 define the terms ``firm,''
``appropriate subdivision,'' ``group,'' and ``significant number or
proportion of the workers.'' While the Department usually identifies at
least three workers at each facility location of a small firm before
certifying a group of workers at that appropriate subdivision location,
where three workers in the firm report to a single location of that
firm, such as the firm's headquarters, the ``group'' may be found to
consist of at least a total of three workers regardless of the work
location. For example, a worker who travels between two or more
locations of the firm or engages in telecommuting for all or part of
the work week will not be excluded from consideration as part of a
group of workers at an auxiliary facility merely because he or she does
not report to work each day to the same facility and his or her
paycheck is sent to a different location. Under these circumstances, it
would not serve the purpose of the ``significant number of
separations'' requirement to deny certification of a worker group when
there are at least three separated workers at different locations who
all report to headquarters even though there were not at least three
separated workers at each of those locations.
Although workers employed by Major League are located in Mount
Airy, North Carolina; McAllen, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; and
Martinsville, Virginia, all of their activities are coordinated, and
the workers are issued directives, from the company headquarters. Thus,
the subject worker group of this petition consists of workers of the
subject firm at these four locations as well as at the Jasper, Georgia
company headquarters.
Information obtained in the investigation subsequent to the initial
negative determination reveals that a significant number or proportion
of workers of the subject worker group described above have been
separated under section 222(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended,
and the applicable regulations, as discussed above. In addition to the
worker at Mount Airy, North Carolina, there were at least a total of
two other workers at the McAllen, Texas and San Antonio, Texas
locations who were totally or partially separated from employment by
Major League between January and April 2004.
Increased imports of articles like or directly competitive with
those produced at Active Wear, Inc.,
[[Page 65461]]
Martinsville, Virginia, a firm affiliated with and substantially
beneficially owned by the same persons who own the subject firm,
contributed importantly to the declines in sales or production and to
the total or partial separation of workers at that firm, as determined
by the Department in TA-W-54,339. Because the subject firm may be
considered to be a single firm with Active Wear under the Department's
definition of ``firm,'' and the subject group of Major League workers
are an appropriate subdivision of that firm for trade adjustment
assistance certification requirements because it operated in
conjunction with Active Wear's Martinsville facility, increased imports
also are found to have contributed importantly to the firm's sales or
production and worker separations (and threatened separations) at the
subject worker group.
On September 23, 2004, the petitioner filed an appeal with the U.S.
Court of International Trade. By order dated October 29, 2004, the
court has granted the Department leave to file this determination.
Conclusion
After careful review of the additional facts obtained on
reconsideration and the entire record, I conclude that increased
imports of like or directly competitive articles contributed
importantly to the Major League/Active Wear firm and the total or
partial separation of workers in the subject group. In accordance with
the provisions of the Act, I make the following certification:
All workers of Major League, Inc., Mount Airy, North Carolina
(TA-W-54,674), Major League, Inc., Jasper, Georgia (TA-W-54,674A),
Major League, Inc., McAllen, Texas (TA-W-54,674B), Major League,
Inc., San Antonio, Texas (TA-W-54,674C), and Major League, Inc.,
Martinsville, Virginia (TA-W-54,674D) who became totally or
partially separated from employment on or after March 24, 2003
through two years of this certification, are eligible to apply for
trade adjustment assistance under Section 223 of the Trade Act of
1974.
Signed in Washington, DC this 3rd day of November 2004.
Elliott S. Kushner,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. E4-3143 Filed 11-10-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P