A strike by 1,000 workers at Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal casino showed no signs of abating after workers walked off the job just before the start of the July 4th weekend.
Union officials for UNITE-HERE of Local 54—the city’s largest casino workers union—said no new contract talks with the casino had been scheduled. Union President Bob McDevitt told the local Press of Atlantic City That the two sides had not moved any closer to an agreement
The main issue in the strike is over health insurance benefits for workers, which were cancelled by a bankruptcy judge during a long bankruptcy proceeding while the casino was owned by Trump Entertainment. The union, however, blamed billionaire Carl Icahn—who also owns the Tropicana Atlantic City—for the move as he eventually took over the Taj Mahal.
The union has staged repeated protests against Icahn and sought to have the bankruptcy court judge’s ruling overturned. That appeal eventually failed.
Icahn has said that he can’t operate the financially ailing casino without a health benefit concession. The casino has given employees a stipend to seek insurance through the Affordable Care Act, but the union has said that most employees still can’t afford health insurance.
Icahn, for his part, says he has invested $86 million into the property and has kept it open when no other investors showed any interest in the casino. He also told the Associated Press that he offered a health care deal before the strike that he thought would satisfy the union.
McDevitt, in turn, called that offer “a shadow” of what was negotiated at four other casinos last week, including Tropicana Atlantic City, which is also owned by Icahn Enterprises.
The union reached a last minute deal last week with four other city casinos—including the city’s three Caesars Entertainment properties—that staved off a strike at those casinos. Terms of those deals, including the deal at the Tropicana have not been disclosed.
Union members have been picketing the casino since the strike was called July 1, though the casino remained open as officials for the casino said they had a strike plan in place. Local 54 represents a large amount of casino hotel employees from cleaning staff to bartenders, but does not represent dealers and other casino-floor staff.
Local reports said customers for the casino had been crossing the picket lines in large numbers, but the crowd at the casino was light compared to the city’s other casino hotels. The strike has also reportedly gotten a little ugly, with picketers shouting at customers that “hundreds of dead mice” have been found on the property, according to the Press. A strike coordinator told the paper that the union was using information from the Atlantic City Health Department which found “282 instances of mice or rodent feces throughout the casino.”
The union has also benefitted from the simple fact that the casino still carries the name of presidential candidate Donald Trump, although Trump divested himself of any controlling interest in the casino in 2009. Despite that, the strike made national headlines because of the Trump connection, and also as Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton made a campaign appearance in the resort where she criticized Trump’s financial record in the resort. Clinton stopped briefly at the picket line after her appearance to greet and talk with picketers.
