Workers at Alcoa's damaged Portland smelter will be asked to help save their jobs by taking holidays as the aluminium giant decides on its future in Australia.
Australian Workers Union Victorian secretary Ben Davis confirmed that workers would be encouraged take unscheduled leave over the Christmas period, to help reduce costs for the biggest employer in Victoria's far south-west.
![Power lines leading to the smelter at Portland.](http://web.archive.org./web/20180418233149im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/8/b/b/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt8az9.png/1484884008345.jpg)
Mr Davis and Victorian Industry Minister Wade Noonan flew to Portland on Friday for a tour of the plant and discussions with Alcoa and workers.
The smelter is believed to have lost more than $1 million a day since the outage led to the closure of a potline and more than half the plant's output.
![The Alcoa Aluminium smelter at Portland.](http://web.archive.org./web/20180418233149im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/8/b/b/t/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt8az9.png/1483737539519.jpg)
Industry sources say Alcoa is preparing to ask for tens of millions of dollars in federal and state assistance to keep the plant operating.
Government insiders have confirmed the Andrews and Turnbull governments were now co-operating over an Alcoa assistance package.
"Obviously Alcoa is talking to the state and federal governments about what is needed to stay open and continue operating," said Mr Davis.
He said that while some of the aluminium pots had been destroyed, others were now being fixed. Alcoa is some days from a conclusion about when it would be back to full capacity at Portland.
![Illustration: Matt Golding](http://web.archive.org./web/20180418233149im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/8/e/l/j/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gt8az9.png/1481370333779.jpg)
The company's bottom line had already been hit this year by the conclusion of a 30-year state subsidy that had cost taxpayers billions of dollars, and an increase in power prices following the closure of Hazelwood power station.
The one upside from the power outage for Alcoa is that it strengthens its bargaining position in its ongoing push for government support.
The smelter is Victoria's largest single exporter. It directly employs about 680 full-time staff and contractors at Portland, a city of only 10,000. About 2000 jobs rely on the operation.
The power supply to the huge complex went out for more than five hours two weeks ago, causing molten aluminium in more than 200 smelting pots to cool and solidify.
This crippled an entire potline in the smelter, one of two such potlines used to smelt aluminium.The other has been working on limited capacity for some time. Alcoa closed potlines as it worked to stabilise the second pot line and investigate the damage to the first.
At the time of the outage electricity provider AusNet was undertaking routine maintenance work on one of the two high-voltage transmission lines that carry electricity 500 kilometres from Latrobe Valley.
While this happened, the remaining transmission line failed, causing an outage in the smelter that also left 200,000 homes without power in Adelaide.
At the time Alcoa's director of corporate affairs, Brian Doy, said the outage was "certainly the worst incident" at Portland Aluminium that he could recall.While a legal stoush over the costs of the outage is expected, it is not clear which parties will be involved or how much compensation would be sought.