The battle between Atlantic City’s main casino workers union—Local 54 of UNITE HERE—and billionaire Carl Icahn over his takeover of Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal isn’t calming down, leaving the fate of the troubled casino in doubt.
In fact, 68 workers were willing to get arrested last week to make that point as the union staged a mass protest outside the Taj Mahal that attracted a reported 1,000 workers. The workers blocked an intersection in front of the casino and were arrested for failing to obey police officers who ordered them to move.
There have been numerous such protest against Icahn in the last several months—the unofficial total is nine—as the union is fighting to restore health and pension benefits for workers which were cut during bankruptcy proceedings for the casino. Workers have even blocked traffic before at the protests, though this one resulted in a significant amount of arrests.
It was apparent that this protest would be more energized when union head Bob McDevitt referred to Icahn as “a malignancy that needs to be cut out” from the city’s casino industry just before the rally.
A bankruptcy judge’s ruling last year allowed Trump Entertainment to terminate health and pension benefits for its union workers. The union has appealed that ruling in federal court.
Icahn has said that if the union wins the appeal, he may close the casino.
The union, however, maintains that if the Taj Mahal can cut workers benefits, all of the city’s casinos will seek to do the same.
“We’re here to stand up to the biggest bully in the New Jersey casino industry, Carl Icahn,” McDevitt told the Associated Press. “He’s a malignancy that needs to be cut out from the Atlantic City casino industry.”
The casino issued a statement condemning the protest.
“Taj employees do not benefit from this type of disruptive conduct,” the company said. “It is unfortunate that Local 54 leadership is willing to sacrifice the wages and tips of its members by actively attempting to persuade customers and conventions to boycott the Taj Mahal.”
New Jersey Senate President Steven Sweeney also weighed in on the protest, taking the side of the union where he has been since the beginning. (Sweeney is himself an official in another union.)
“The billionaire casino owner Carl Icahn is exploiting Atlantic City’s fiscal problems in an attempt to destroy the rights, benefits and financial well-being of the workers at the Taj Mahal,” Sweeney said in a press statement. “He’s denying the employees the ability to support themselves and their families while he increases his own bottom line. If you want to talk about income inequality in New Jersey, look no further than the Taj Mahal.”
