Trump Taj Mahal Casino Workers Poised to Strike
July 01 2016 - 8:00AM
Dow Jones News
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.—Atlantic City's main casino workers union,
still seething from the cancellation of its members' health
insurance and pension benefits nearly two years ago, said early
Friday it would go on strike against the Trump Taj Mahal
casino.
Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union told the Associated Press that
it was unable to reach agreement on a new contract with the Taj
Mahal, which is owned by billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The
walkout involving about 1,000 union members could begin around 6
a.m. Friday.
The labor disruption comes on the critical July 4 weekend, among
the busiest of the year for Atlantic City casinos. It wasn't
immediately clear whether the Taj Mahal planned to press management
into service, hire temporary replacement workers, or some
combination of both.
The Taj Mahal was the only one of the five casinos targeted by
the union that was unable to reach a new deal.
It enraged workers during its most recent spin through
bankruptcy court in October 2014 when it got a judge to allow it to
cancel health and pension benefits, deeming them unaffordable to
the struggling casino.
The Taj Mahal was opened and once run by Donald Trump, the
presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but the bankruptcy
filing and the benefit terminations happened five years after he
had relinquished control of the casino and its parent company,
Trump Entertainment Resorts, that both bore his name.
Aside from a 10% stake in the company for the use of his name
that was wiped out in bankruptcy, Mr. Trump had no involvement with
the company since 2009.
On Thursday, the union struck deals with three casinos owned by
Caesars Entertainment Corp.—Bally's, Caesars, and Harrah's—as well
as the Tropicana, which, like the Taj Mahal, is owned by Mr.
Icahn.
Mr. Icahn kept the Taj Mahal afloat during its bankruptcy, and
took it over in March. He repeatedly threatened to withdraw
financial support for the casino and force it to close if he was
forced to restore health and pension benefits.
The clash between Mr. Icahn and Local 54 leadership,
particularly its president, Bob McDevitt, has grown acrimonious and
intensely personal. Mr. Icahn has likened Mr. McDevitt and the
union to extortionists, while the union president has called Mr.
Icahn "a cancer" that needs to be cut out of Atlantic City.
The company gave union members a cash stipend to buy health care
on the private market or through the government-run Affordable Care
Act, but many say it doesn't come close to the actual cost of
obtaining insurance.
Borgata, Golden Nugget and Resorts weren't targeted by the
union, and aren't affected by the strike.
The union said it recouped a good portion of givebacks it handed
the casinos in past negotiations when their financial condition was
worse. In the aftermath of four of the 12 casinos shutting down in
2014, there is less competition for the city's surviving eight
casinos, which are seeing their bottom lines begin to
stabilize.
The last time Local 54 waged a strike, in 2004, the walkout
lasted 34 days.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 01, 2016 07:45 ET (11:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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