By Michael Aron
Chief Political Correspondent
Taj Mahal workers were in the fifth week of their strike when management announced yesterday it would close the casino after Labor Day.
The Taj is owned by billionaire Carl Icahn of New York, who also owns the Tropicana.
Rose Hall has worked at the Taj since it opened 26 years ago.
What does it mean to her to lose her job?
“It means a lot since I’ve been here since day one, but hey, I can’t work under terms that he want us to work under,” she said.
Two thousand hospitality workers and hundreds of non-unionized dealers will lose their jobs if the threat to close is real.
That’s on top of 8,000 casino jobs Atlantic City has shed in the last three years.
There were 12 casinos here in 2014. The Taj would be the fifth to close since then.
In a statement, the head of Icahn’s gaming operations, Tony Rodio, said: “The Taj board and Icahn Enterprises board 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.”
Union President Bob McDevitt disputes that.
“What was the reason for the last three properties Carl Icahn closed? He closed the profitable Sands in 2006, put 2,200 workers out of work, closed the Atlantic Club in 2014, 2,200 out of work. Trump Plaza, another 1,000 and now he’s proposing to close the Taj Mahal with another 2,500. The man’s legacy is four closed casinos and 7,000 workers unemployed. I mean, that’s a ridiculous legacy to have in AC,” McDevitt said.
“This county, this area, is the foreclosure capital of America and does this guy Carl Icahn care?” asked Al Kare, a food server at Taj Mahal.
When it opened in 1990, the Taj billed itself as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
“I mean, the Taj is number one in every category. It’s number one in slots, it’s number one in games, it’s number one in gross operating profits, number one in revenues,” Donald Trump said at the time.
Trump sold it to investors, they took it to bankruptcy and sold it to Icahn who said he’d put $100 million into refurbishing it, according to the New York Times.
Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian says closing it is not a welcomed development.
“In its day, the Taj was on top of the heap — certainly before Borgata opened 13 years ago — the Taj and Caesars and Harrah’s would alternate as being the top casino in town. All of the three Trump properties just didn’t keep up with the rest of the city,” Guardian said.
Now Icahn and the workers are fighting over health benefits.
They want what other casinos provide their employees.
He’s offering a lower-cost package.
“If he gets away with giving us less, then all the other casinos will try the same thing,” said Debbie Dempsey, a food server at Taj Mahal.
Management’s announcement that it is closing the Taj after Labor Day could be just a negotiating tactic to get the union to accept the lower-cost health coverage that’s been offered. But if it is just a tactic, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to work.
“Mr. Icahn is used to running people over and having his way with working people and this is the first time in his career people have stood up and said we’re not going to be slaves to you,” McDevitt said.
So the last casino here with Trump’s name on it is set to close.