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US – Taj Mahal to become fifth casino to close in Atlantic City
By Phil - 5 August 2016
The Trump Taj Mahal casino will become the fifth casino to close in Atlantic City, with management saying they could no longer run a loss making casino in the middle of continued strikes by workers.
The Local 54 of the Unite-HERE workers union had called a strike in an attempt to restore health insurance and pension benefits to previous levels.
The casino’s billionaire owner Carl Icahn had offered to restore health insurance but at a level less than that received by workers at the city’s other casinos.
Tony Rodio, President of Tropicana Entertainment, which runs the Taj Mahal, said: “Currently the Taj is losing multi-millions a month, and now with this strike, we see no path to profitability. Our directors cannot just allow the Taj to continue burning through tens of millions of dollars when the union has singlehandedly blocked any path to profitability. Unfortunately we’ve reached the point where we will have to close the Taj.”
The Taj Maha, opened 26 years ago, by Donald Trump, has faced ongoing strikes since July 1. Its closure will see around 3,000 people lose their jobs.
President of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE Bob McDevitt, said: “I would never have thought Carl Icahn was so one-dimensional. The great deal-maker would rather burn the Trump Taj Mahal down just so he can control the ashes. 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. This titan of Wall Street is utterly incapable of making a decision unless it is mean-spirited and benefiting him alone.”
It is likely the casino will close at the beginning of October.
