Alcoa Portland workers offered more annual leave as decision over future drags on

Workers at Alcoa's Portland aluminium smelter have been offered more annual leave amid growing local anxiety about the plant's uncertain future.

The Victorian Government cannot say if or when a deal to keep the smelter operating will be finalised.

A fortnight ago state and federal industry ministers met with company executives in New York to offer a rescue package.

The smelter is operating at about a quarter of its capacity after a power outage last month caused one of the two pot lines to solidify.

The outage came at a time of mounting uncertainty about the facility's future and ongoing negotiations for a new power supply deal.

The Australian Workers Union expects the company to announce a decision on the smelter's future by the end of next week.

But Alcoa said no decision had been made yet and there was not a deadline for an announcement.

"Energy and aluminium prices are key considerations in the smelter's future," a company statement said.

It said assistance offered by both federal and state governments "would be carefully reviewed".

The company said workers due to return to work this week had been offered further annual leave and "approximately two thirds of the workforce remain on leave".