DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

TA-W-38,024

ALABAMA STRUCTURAL BEAMS
A DIVISION OF GULF STATES STEEL
GADSDEN, ALABAMA

Notice of Negative Determination
Regarding Application for Reconsideration


By application dated January 15, 2001, the attorney for United
Steelworkers of America, Local 2176, requested administrative
reconsideration of the Department's negative determination regarding
eligibility to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), applicable
to workers and former workers of the subject firm. The denial notice
was signed on December 5, 2000, and was published in the Federal
Register on December 21, 2000 (65 FR 80456).
Pursuant to 29 CFR 90.18(c) reconsideration may be granted under
the following circumstances:
(1) If it appears on the basis of facts not previously
considered that the determination complained of
was erroneous;
(2) if it appears that the determination complained of
was based on a mistake in the determination of facts
not previously considered; or
(3) if in the opinion of the Certifying Officer, a mis-
interpretation of facts or of the law justified
reconsideration of the decision.
The petition for the workers of Alabama Structural Beams, a
Division of Gulf States Steel, Gadsden, Alabama, was denied because
the "contributed importantly" group eligibility requirement of
Section 222(3) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, was not met.
The "contributed importantly" test is generally demonstrated
through a survey of customers of the workers' firm. None of the
customers reported purchasing imported I-beams.
The petitioner states that the workers at the Structural Beams
plant should be eligible to apply for the program benefits because the
Structural Beams plant and the parent company, Gulf States Steel, were
one in the same. They shared the same Board of Directors, payroll,
on-site medical facilities, workers compensation, and health
insurance. The petitioner adds that Alabama Structural Beams was part
of Gulf States Steel in every sense except that the pay scale and
employee union contract was different. When Gulf States Steel closed,
so too did the subject firm plant. The petitioner states that the
Structural Beam plant relied on the parent company for the raw
material to produce the I-beams. The I-beams were sold mainly to
manufacturers of mobile homes.
The source of the raw material to produce the I-beams is
irrelevant in this case. Workers of the Alabama Structural Beams
plant could be certified only if they supplied the I-beams to Gulf
States Steel (whose workers were certified eligible to apply for TAA).

Conclusion
After review of the application and investigative findings, I
conclude that there has been no error or misinterpretation of the law
or of the facts which would justify reconsideration of the Department
of Labor's prior decision. Accordingly, the application is denied.
Signed at Washington, D.C. this 30th day of April 2001.
/s/ Linda G. Poole

LINDA G. POOLE
Certifying Officer, Division of
Trade Adjustment Assistance