AS Infrabuild workers marched off the job on Thursday amid "spiteful" pay negotiations across several Mayfield sites, it's worth considering exactly where manufacturing stands in Australia.
The strike, the first for Infrabuild staff in three decades, comes just months after Molycop announced plans to restructure its Waratah steel-making operation.
That came at the cost of 250 jobs, ending a century of the work at the Newcastle site.
There have been many more casualties in this region alone in years gone by.
While leaders have postured as strong supporters of building things here, even the Newcastle light rail was shipped in from overseas.
It means a skipped generation of tradespeople in specialised roles, losing that essential knowledge exchange, and pressure to compete on price with overseas operators that can push some to the brink.
A silver lining, at least, is that NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has given the strongest indication yet that the Minns government plans to invest resources in making trains here in the Hunter.
"The Hunter is going to play a crucial role in the revival of train manufacturing in NSW, and we look forward to working with the Hunter community, particularly, as we make important decisions around how we renew the Tangara fleet," he told reporter Michael Parris this week.
As some letters to the editors correspondents have pointed out, that is easier said than done when the knowledge and technology required is not readily at hand after years of neglect.
Industries can only survive on life support for so long, and successive governments have shown little will or ability to ensure the viability of Hunter manufacturing.
If it were as simple as awarding the contracts, Mr Mookhey's predecessors would likely have beaten him to the punch.
Taxpayers must see value for money in their spend, and refusing the cheapest price can be a hard sell to voters who are keen to keep a bigger slice of their pay packet than they hand to the government.
Taxpayers must see value for money in their spend, and refusing the cheapest price can be a hard sell to voters who are keen to keep a bigger slice of their pay packet than they hand to the government.
Affordable imports, however, have hardly been a winning strategy in recent years.
Light rail projects across the state have faced delays and cost blowouts, while the incoming intercity train fleet has long found itself embroiled in a union stand-off.
That stalemate followed the revelation that the trains simply didn't fit in some tunnels on their routes, elementary issues that have proven costly both financially and politically.
That is not to mention the woes with Sydney's ferries.
Infrabuild says it will continue to negotiate with its workers, and it is difficult to hope for anything but an agreement that gives workers their due without leaving the company overextended.
Similarly, we can but hope Mr Mookhey's government will have some good news for an embattled sector before it's too late.
