DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

TA-W-38,337

NORTON COMPANY
COATED ABRASIVES DIVISION
WATERVLIET, NEW YORK

Negative Determination Regarding Eligibility
To Apply for Worker Adjustment Assistance


In accordance with Section 223 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19
USC 2273) as amended by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act
of 1988 (P. L. 100-418), the Department of Labor herein presents
the results of an investigation regarding certification of eligi-
bility to apply for worker adjustment assistance.
In order to make an affirmative determination and issue a
certification of eligibility to apply for adjustment assistance,
each of the group eligibility requirements of Section 222 of the
Act must be met:
(1) that a significant number or proportion of the workers
in the workers' firm, or an appropriate subdivision
thereof, have become totally or partially separated,
or are threatened to become totally or partially
separated;

(2) that sales or production, or both, of the firm or
subdivision have decreased absolutely; and

(3) that increases of imports of articles like or directly
competitive with articles produced by the firm or
appropriate subdivision have contributed importantly to
the separations, or threat thereof, and to the absolute
decline in sales or production.

The investigation was initiated on November 20, 2000, in
response to a petition filed on behalf of workers at Norton
Company, Coated Abrasives Division, Watervliet, New York.


Workers were engaged in activities related to the production of
sandpaper.
This investigation revealed that criterion (3) has not been
met.
Production at the subject facility increased in the 1998-
1999 time period and also in January to July 2000, compared to
the same period one year earlier.
The investigation also revealed that separations at the
subject firm resulted from the completion of a special project
for which temporary workers had been newly hired and then
released.
Conclusion
After careful review, I determine that all workers of North
Company, Coated Abrasives Division, Watervliet, New York, are
denied eligibility to apply for adjustment assistance under
Section 223 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Signed in Washington, D. C. this 31st day of January 2001.


/s/ Linda G. Poole
____________________________
LINDA G. POOLE
Certifying Officer, Division of
Trade Adjustment Assistance