DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

TA-W-38,192
AND
NAFTA-4187

METAL POWDER PRODUCTS COMPANY
LOGAN, OHIO

Notice of Negative Determination
Regarding Application for Reconsideration


By application dated December 13, 2000, the International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local Lodge 55,
District 28, requested administrative reconsideration of the
Department's negative determination regarding eligibility to
apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and North American
Free Trade Agreement-Transitional Adjustment Assistance (NAFTA-
TAA), applicable to workers and former workers of the subject
firm. The denial notices were signed November 30, 2000, and
published in the Federal Register on December 21, 2000; the TAA
at (65 FR 80457) and the NAFTA-TAA at (65 FR 80458).
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 denial of TAA for workers producing powdered metal parts
for industrial applications at Metal Powder Products Company,
Logan, Ohio, was based on the finding that the "contributed
importantly" criterion of the group eligibility requirements of
Section 222 of the Trade Act of 1974 was not met. The subject
firm transferred all of the production from Logan, Ohio to other
domestic facilities. Prior to the closure of the Metal Powder
Products Company plant in Logan, Ohio, sales and production
remained nearly constant.
The Department's denial of NAFTA-TAA for the same worker
group was based on the finding that criteria (3) and (4) of the
group eligibility requirements of paragraph (a)(1) of Section 250
of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, were not met. There was no
shift in production of powder metal parts from the subject firm
to Mexico or Canada, nor were there company imports of like or
directly competitive products from Mexico or Canada.
The petitioner asserts that the subject firm took some of
the key management staff to the Powder Metal Products plant in
Mexico and production there has increased. Although not
elaborated on in the initial investigation, the company
acknowledged a recent acquisition of a plant in Mexico. That
plant, however, serves the auto market in that country and none
of the production was shifted from Logan, Ohio to Mexico, nor
will any of the production be coming back to the United States.
The petitioner also provided a shipping label from Metal
Powder Specialties in Logan, Ohio, to an address in Mexico. The
shipping label to Mexico, by itself, does not present any new
information which would warrant worker group certification
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 decisions. Accordingly, the
application is denied.

Signed at Washington, D.C. this 26th day of December 2000.


/s/ Edward A. Tomchick

EDWARD A. TOMCHICK
Director, Division of
Trade Adjustment Assistance