While the Trump Taj Mahal did not become the fifth Atlantic City casino to close in 2014, it did seem like today’s news was inevitable. On Thursday, the strike will become the longest by Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union in the city’s 38-year casino era, eclipsing the 34-day walkout it staged against seven casinos in 2004.
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The planned shutdown after the Labor Day weekend will put the hotel casino’s 3,000 employees out of work. In a statement, Tropical Entertainment president Tony Rodio said that the union strike is to blame for the closing.
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“For a few million bucks he could have had labor peace and a content workforce, but instead he’d rather slam the door shut on these long-term workers just to punish them and attempt to break their strike”, he said in a statement. A voter referendum in November that might allow the building of two new casinos in Northern New Jersey could lead to more Atlantic City casinos shutting down if passed. He added that Icahn Enterprises had lost around $100 million since it took over the Taj. “Although these are still tough economic times, Atlantic City has been resilient for over 160 years and we will continue to do so, as we rise to meet any challenge ahead of us”.
Atlantic City’s casino industry produced annual revenue increases every year from when Resorts opened in 1978 until that peak in 2006, when neighboring NY and Pennsylvania joined a growing wave of northeastern states to get the gambling bug.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Icahn said Wednesday that he was unavailable for questions about the decision to close the Trump Taj Mahal on Labor Day.
McDevitt said Icahn helped bleed the casino dry as its main lender before and during its most recent stay in bankruptcy.
Opened by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in 1990, the Trump Taj Mahal was the centerpiece of his gambling operation. The agreement breathed new life in Ceasar’s Entertainment Atlantic City properties, including Harrah’s, Caesars and Bally’s and Tropicana, but not with Taj.
Icahn told the Associated Press Wednesday that he has lost almost $100 million on the Taj and that is as far as he is going to go. A federal judge permitted the casino to eliminate those benefits in 2014, when Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for bankruptcy.
Union president Bob McDevitt blasted Icahn, calling the cost of restoring full health care “a drop in the bucket” that the billionaire can easily afford. Icahn also owns the Tropicana, which he also acquired out of bankruptcy.
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He said the company intends to send required layoff notices to workers before this weekend, Reuters reported. Icahn previously said the company offered a contract that would have temporarily restored health care, but at a lesser level than employees of the city’s other seven casinos.
