By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
“I’m pissed!” said food server, Al Kare.
Kare walked off the job at Taj Mahal at 6 a.m. and joined almost 1,000 union workers on the picket line after contract talks broke off with no deal in sight. They never even got close.
“These guys are sitting there crying poor, they’re crushing, they’re trying to step on our necks when we’re down,” Kare said.
“They offered us a health plan that was not even close to the health plan the other casinos have. It’s inadequate. It was a really disappointing negotiation. How do you have a worker in 2016 without a paid meal break?” asked UNITE HERE Local 54 President Bob McDevitt.
“It’s horrible that they left us no other option. This is the only thing they understand, on a July 4 weekend where they could be making millions and millions of dollars,” Kare said.
Sympathetic Taj patrons crossed picket lines and said the strike significantly disrupted services inside.
“I noticed there was no maids. I kept saying where’s the maid?” said Jeanine Guilford of Freeport, N.Y.
“The buffet’s closed. So, if you want to eat you got to go to another casino to eat,” said Taj Majal patron Tim Moragne.
“This is bad for management because it’s the Fourth of July weekend so you would think they would settle with these guys so they can make the money that they could make,” said Tim Moragne of Philadelphia.
“It’s bad for tourism, for sure. Like I said, you come outside and see this, it’s upsetting,” said Lou Passik of Queens.
UNITE HERE Local 54 reached settlements with four other Atlantic City casinos yesterday, but Taj was a long shot. In and out of bankruptcy it’s now owned by billionaire investor Carl Icahn who, over union objections, got a federal judge’s approval to terminate health and pension benefits in October 2014.
“We want to work. It’s just that we’ve lost everything and it’s putting financial troubles on all of us. Now it’s what am I not going to pay, what am I going to pay? It’s getting to that. Because It’s been 19 months we’ve been going through this,” said Peter Battaglini.
But Taj CEO Tony Rodio said in a statement, bargaining committee employees “…seem hell-bent on trying to close this property…despite all our efforts in these past several months to turn around the Taj, restore employee morale and prepare the Taj for the summer opening…Taj ownership has presented good faith concrete progressive proposals to restore certain employee benefits including contributions toward employee health care.”
Police monitored the picket lines, but because striking workers only bracketed one casino, the financial burden and the disturbance for that city is negligible, said Mayor Don Guardian.
“Local 54 has usually been very good in their preparation. There’s no aggressive action, they’re not preventing people from entering the casino. They’re using their right to be able to demonstrate,” Guardian said.
“We’re going to be here until we get a contract,” said Battaglini.
Union leaders say no new talks are scheduled. They also say strikers are going to stay on this line and they will walk 24/7 until there’s a settlement.