Union officials are seeking a meeting with Premier Barry O’Farrell to discuss the smelter’s need for a long-term power contract with the government-owned Macquarie Generation, in an effort to bolster the viability of its operations.

Hydro announced last month that it would shed 150 jobs at the site and close Potline 1, amid a strong Australian dollar and low metal prices.

A spokesman for industrial maintenance company Thomas and Coffey, which had about 70 staff on the smelter site, confirmed it made 26 full-time staff redundant in the wake of Hydro’s announcement.

It had retained about 23 non-trade employees and redeployed about 21 tradesmen to other parts of the business in Queensland and elsewhere in the Hunter, the spokesman said.

Australian Workers’ Union Newcastle branch secretary Richard Downie said he would seek a meeting with Mr O’Farrell for himself, Cessnock MP Clayton Barr and union national secretary Paul Howes to discuss the need for the smelter to secure an electricity contract.

In late 2010, the then Labor government blocked Delta Electricity from signing a long-term electricity contract with the smelter’s Norwegian owner Norsk Hydro. Labor thought it could get a better price for its electricity sector partial sale without a contract in place.

Hydro’s current contract will end in 2017, and the company has warned it needs certainty.