Labor strife was the straw that broke the back of Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City after staff called a strike in July over disagreements with management on health and other benefits.
Workers’ union United Here Local 54 represented the 1,000 Trump Taj Mahal workers in failed negotiations to restore the employees’ health care benefits, that resulted in the strike. Casino workers have been taking deep pay cuts in the past years to sustain their health insurance, but the issue proved to be too thorny to be resolved with management, previous reports said.
Union chief Bob McDevitt said that the closure was an attempt on the part of owner Carl Icahn to “slam the door shut on these long-term workers just to punish them and attempt to break their strike.”
In contrast, the general climate in the Atlantic City gaming industry has started to pick up after years of being in the doldrums due to stiff competition from other states, and bankruptcy filings. Four other casinos in the state have reached agreements with the workers’ union, three owned by Caesars Entertainment, and another owned by Icahn.
