By ROB CURRY

(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) – Just before the winter holidays, battery manufacturer EnerSys Energy Products laid off approximately 130 employees at the plant in Warrensburg, Mo., according to the Workforce Development Board of Western Missouri.

Patti Carter, executive director for Workforce Development, said the agency is working with the former employees to apply for unemployment insurance and assist in job placement. Applicants began with a survey to determine their career interests, skills and future plans.

“Some indicated a desire to go back to school,” Carter said. “Many said they needed a job now.”

Carter said two large manufacturers in Clinton, Mo., are interested in hiring some of the unemployed workers, but she declined to name them.

“I don’t want them to be bombarded,” she explained.

Carter said the jobs were not the same as at the EnerSys plant, but that the workers’ skills would be transferable and the scale of the companies is a good fit.

Ann Waldron, the Clinton Career Center business representative, also declined to name the two interested companies.

“I wouldn’t invade their privacy,” Waldron said.

The career center has been working directly with the unemployed workers, but Waldron said she did not have solid numbers for placement.

“Everything’s early in process,” she said. “Even under normal circumstances, this takes a while. We have quite a few applications out.”

A representative from EnerSys could not be reached for comment. According to the Sedalia Democrat, EnerSys Executive Vice President Richard W. Zuidema cited economic reasons for reducing the workforce at the Warrensburg plant.