The Trump Taj Mahal will close its doors for good after the Labor Day weekend. 3000 workers will be out of a job joining the 8000 casino workers who lost their jobs in 2014 when four other Atlantic City casinos called it quits.
Tony Rodio, president of Tropicana Entertainment, which runs the Taj Mahal, said management decided Wednesday it can no longer operate a money-losing property in the midst of a strike. On Thursday, the walkout by Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union will reach its 35th day, eclipsing the 34-day walkout the union staged against seven casinos in 2004.
“Currently the Taj is losing multi-millions a month, and now with this strike, we see no path to profitability,” Rodio said. “Our directors cannot just allow the Taj to continue burning through tens of millions of dollars when the union has single handedly blocked any path to profitability. Unfortunately we’ve reached the point where we will have to close the Taj.”
The central issue in the strike is restoration of health insurance and pension benefits that previous owners got a bankruptcy court judge to approve in Oct. 2014. [Carl] Icahn offered to restore health insurance to Taj Mahal workers, but at a level less than what workers at the city’s other seven casinos receive.
To be clear, the only thing Trump has to do with this casino is renting out his name. The casino is owned by Carl Ichan.