When Wes McGuire's employer - a Middletown, Ohio factory - shut down, Wes had to find a new job. Fortunately he found and completed a two-week training course at his local county career center. This led to an interview with Cobasys, which hired him the same day. Wes is now a maintenance technician and CWA-IUE member at Cobasys, a Springboro firm that manufactures batteries for hybrid vehicles.
In Wes' words:
"It makes me feel good that I'm on the cutting edge of technology... to actually help the environment. I can make a living doing something I like to do, plus help the planet at the same time. Because if we don't do it, nobody else is going to. Every choice we make every day is going to have an impact."
"Instead of sitting around talking about it, let's just do it... I think the United States is on the right track and getting away from foreign oil and dependency on every other country. And here's where it starts. So I feel lucky that I got on the [ground] floor of it and I can watch it grow and be a part of it. If I can do it, anyone can do it. It's just putting forth the effort."
**Note: Clean energy workers like Wes are vulnerable to the economic downturn and troubled automakers. Moving forward with clean energy and climate legislation will help expand the numbers of hybrids and plug-in hybrids out there, expanding the hybrid-battery industry and the businesses and jobs that support it.