The finger pointing now begins as Billionaire casino investor Carl Icahn blamed officials of Local 54 of the Unite-Here of inciting the soon-to-be unemployed workers of the Taj Mahal to destroy their own jobs by participating in the longest strike by Atlantic City’s main casino workers union, according to Associated Press.
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The city’s casino industry has been showing certain signs of revival over the past several months but Trump Taj Mahal’s closure came as an indication that it still has a long way to go before returning to its former glory.
As the strikers continued to picket, workers were carrying out repairs to a Taj Mahal entrance facade further down the Boardwalk, leading some workers to question whether the casino really planned to shut down after all. The date is listed in warning notices that were required by law to be filed with the state Department of Labor. Those in favor of the referendum believe that the two North Jersey casinos will prevent New Jersey gamblers from going out of state and reduce gambling revenue from leaving the garden state.
On Wednesday, Taj owners announced that they plan on closing the casino after the upcoming Labor Day weekend amid an ongoing labor strike.
Atlantic City’s main casino workers’ union has been on strike against the casino since July 1st. The concert is the first of a series of four big-name beach concerts over the next three weeks, along with next week’s Atlantic City Airshow. It will be the fifth casino to close since 2014. The group also predicted the loss of 23,000 to 30,000 direct and indirect jobs from these new closings.
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The referendum would require any North Jersey casino would need to be built by a company that already has a 51 percent share in an Atlantic City casino and invest $1 billion in the project.
