Neither Dennis Eskridge nor his co-workers sense anything extraordinary in the jobs they report to each morning.

"It's pretty much the same work," Eskridge says. "It's air wrenches and blueprints and assembly."

Eskridge, 46, may not see much special in his position as an assembler with CG Power Systems in Washington, Mo.

But state and national leaders, right up to the chief executives of both branches of government, certainly do.

By making the transition from old manufacturing (the auto industry) to new (among other products, CG Power Systems produces electric transformers for power-generating wind turbines), Eskridge and company represent the U.S. economic future to the likes of Jay Nixon and Barack Obama. (Green jobs!)

The hourly employees that gathered in a CG conference room to discuss their jobs are meanwhile refreshingly guileless. They don't view themselves as cutting-edge, blazing a trail millions of other blue collar laborers will travel as they extract the country from an employment crisis hurdling toward its fifth year.

In their telling, they are simply survivors.

With the attendant survivor mentality.

"Don't get too comfortable," cautions supervisor Rick Hellebusch, 31. "Because nothing is for certain anymore."

All were longtime employees of either the Chrysler assembly plant in Fenton or Integram, the Magna International subsidiary that produced Chrysler minivan seats in Pacific.

Then Chrysler, as we all know, shifted its operations elsewhere (elsewhere being Mexico and Canada).

And CG Power Systems — in some instances after an agonizing wait — filled the void for some area workers.

Former Chrysler worker Michael Hill, 48, applied for manufacturing jobs around the state. Down to his last severance check, Hill swallowed his pride and paid a visit to a food pantry.

"And the day I did that was the day these guys called me," said Hill. "I was pretty relieved."

Make no mistake, for all the virtues politicians attach to the clean energy sector, there is nothing glamorous about the way Hill and his colleagues earn a paycheck. Depending on their work station, the job can be hot, loud, dirty and regimented.

And while the former United Auto Workers members are still affiliated with organized labor (the ICU-CWA, representing electric, electronic and other workers) the salary and benefits are a fraction (between $15-$19 per hour) of what the workers took home from Chrysler (about $28 per hour) and Integram (about $22 per hour).

Gone, says ex-Chrysler employee Anthony E. Torres, are the new cars and other "luxuries" supported by an auto worker salary.

"You definitely have to live differently," Hill agrees.

A willingness to accept a lower salary, says Hellebusch, is just one the messages state and national leaders need to convey to the workforce about the new economic reality.

Here's another: American workers need to set aside whatever sentiments they might hold about foreign ownership. The world, as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman keeps reminding us, is indeed flat.

Witness CG Power Systems. Founded nearly 50 years ago by Emerson Electric, the company operated independently starting in 1983 as Pauwell's Transformers until its purchase in 2005 by the Marantha Group, an India-based conglomerate.

During the same two-year period that has seen many American manufacturers trim payroll or hold fast to current employment levels, CG Power Systems has hired 120 new employees and invested $20 million in its Washington production facilities.

The jobs in clean energy, the workers say, underscore the fact that the days when a kid can move from high school directly to the factory floor are history.

The training at Integram, where Hellebusch also served as a supervisor, rarely lasted more than a week. But an employee hired for a skilled position at CG can expect to receive up to three months of on-the-job preparation, according to a company official.

"It's all about education now," said Don Manhart, 55.

A 30-year veteran of the auto industry, Manhart can recall more than a few former co-workers who couldn't read.

Those days too are gone.

"You're not going to make $50,000 anymore without an education," Manhart said.

With six children, including 11-year-old quadruplets, Hellebusch is more grateful than anyone that CG was hiring at a time when so many other manufacturers were letting workers go.

New manufacturing differs from the old, he says, in the balance of power. At Integram, the UAW controlled the flow. Not so at CG Power Systems.

In this economy, he said firmly, "You can't keep holding your hand out."

Incidentally, CG Power Systems has not drawn the line at 120 new hires. The company is holding a job fair Tuesday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Sleep Inn, 2621 East Fifth Street (just off Highway 100) in Washington.

Human resources manager Mary Shofner said the firm planned to fill 50 positions in the plant and for its support staff.