MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif. -- The work shift was returned to pretty much normal staffing at Production Plant Barstow, Marine Depot Maintenance Command aboard the Yermo Annex of Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, California, following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions May 4.
“We are now back at full strength for our ‘touch-labor’ workforce and the supporting staff,” said Robert “Chip” Schwartz, Plant manager.
Prior to May 4, Schwartz said they had divided the work force into thirds, with a third working at any one time and the other two thirds either on two-week “weather and safety” leave or teleworking if their jobs permitted.
“We put a lot of employees on ‘situational’ teleworking status,” he explained. “That means jobs that ordinarily didn’t qualify for teleworking, such as hands on jobs where you have to be physically present to inspect the work of others, were done from home using a company computer to the maximum extent possible.”
The COVID-19 restrictions put in place by Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Shrader, Commanding General, Marine Corps Logistics Command and Col. Wilfred Rivera, Commander, Marine Depot Maintenance Command, fortunately coincided with the period where supervisors had to do performance evaluation of the artisans. So, the supervisors could complete those reports at home, and many were also able to complete their yearly training requirements, Schwartz said.
The decision to reopen the plant to a near-full capacity shift was based on a consultation between Maj. Gen. Schrader and Col. Rivera, and was based on the local conditions in Barstow and the surrounding commuting area.
“The Barstow area in San Bernardino County had had a tiny fraction of the COVID cases that Dougherty County in Georgia was experiencing,” Schwartz said. “MCLB Albany will be back up to full strength workforce by May 18 as local conditions there continue to improve.”
Approximately thirty of the Plant’s employees remain on telework status because their work is “mostly administrative or analytical in nature and does not require them to be on-hand at the Plant every day to perform,” Schwartz said.
The artisans who went back to full shift work at PPB, to a person, said they were happy to be back at work, but each had a variation to add to their reactions.
“I think the staggered shift was very wise,” Everett Arnold, heavy mobile equipment mechanic, said as he worked on an Amphibious Assault Vehicle, May 8. “It gave people the distance they needed to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. With the number of people who work here, that gave everybody some breathing room.”
Fifteen-year veteran HMEM Joseph Lopez, said he appreciated the staggered shifts “… but I also love being back at work. I think the measures taken to protect us from COVID were well thought out.”
“It’s OK to be back at work, but it’s still scary,” Debbie Brobst, HMEM said. “As long as people stay away and wear their masks, it’s OK.”
“I got a wonderful taste of retirement and how it’s going to be,” Ladawn McClain, general equipment mechanic, said. “I got bored a couple of times but I got to hang out with my family, so it was all good. It was good to be back though. I’m blessed to have this job.”
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