EB employees: Company should not make them report to work
But most at shipyard can’t do job from home
Electric Boat employees say they are displeased with the company’s response to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
The Day has increasingly heard from employees in recent days, the majority of whom have asked to remain anonymous, who say the company is not prioritizing the safety of its employees by requiring them to show up to work.
They questioned the responsibility of asking thousands of people to continue to work in close quarters in light of state and federal efforts to limit gatherings to less than 50 people and the closing of schools, bars, restaurants and other establishments. President Donald Trump on Monday urged Americans to limit gatherings to 10 people.
Thirty-year-old Taylor Palmer of Quaker Hill, a project coordinator with the Marine Draftsmen’s Association, one of the larger unions at EB, said while she feels EB is a good place to work, “under circumstances like this when we’re in a state of national crisis, this is when employers need to be taking care of their people.”
Late Monday afternoon, EB issued this statement: “Electric Boat remains open for business. Our ongoing mission is to provide our Navy with the high-quality submarines they require to complete their missions. We have initiated all government-recommended measures to mitigate spread of the disease and continue to work closely with our employees, customers, suppliers, stakeholders and our community to keep them informed.”
Being a defense contractor that builds nuclear submarines for the U.S. Navy, EB is in a unique position given much of its work cannot be done by employees working from home.
Liz Power, a spokeswoman at EB, said the company is encouraging managers and supervisors to let people work flexibly, if possible.
“Given what we do, that’s challenging,” she said.
About half of the company’s nearly 17,000 employees could get their work done remotely, Power said, but that excludes “touch labor” and test and assembly of submarines, “which is our core business.”
Yet employees who spoke to The Day said that only upper management is set up to work from home.
About 70% of EB’s employees work in Connecticut, which had at least 41 positive cases as of Monday, and around 24% work in Rhode Island, which has at least 21 positive cases, with the remainder at sites across the country. The number of positive cases across the country and in the two states has increased in recent days and is expected to continue to do so.
There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 involving EB employees, Power said Monday afternoon.
Power said EB has regularly been communicating with its employees, including passing along guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and what internal actions are being taken.
“We understand that people are concerned and we’re trying right now to balance the need to operate with safety, and safety is always the priority here,” she said.
The company has closed its gyms, increased cleaning of high-trafficked areas, restricted business travel, and canceled larger employee events.
EB had a scare recently when an employee, who was part of a group of about 30 employees involved in an offsite training in Westerly last week, showed symptoms of COVID-19 Thursday afternoon. The company’s medical director evaluated the employee, sent the person home, and advised the person to get tested further. The rest of the employees in the class were told to stay home Friday.
The person tested negative for COVID-19, and the employees were told over the weekend they could return to work on Monday.
Another 40 employees who were on international travel have been asked to stay at home for 14 days, Power said.
With schools in the state closed at least until the end of the month, employees who spoke to The Day said they are concerned about using up all their paid time off to stay at home with their children.
Power said the company continues to look at a range of options on how to handle the rapidly evolving situation.
Palmer, an hourly employee, said she emailed her boss Monday morning to say that she did not feel comfortable going to work and asked for guidance moving forward and whether she would be able to work from home. She said she is taking the situation day by day and is considering whether to take time off unpaid or to use sick and personal time.