Carl Icahn, owner of Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal casino, has rejected an offer from the resort’s main casino workers union that union officials hoped would save the property from closing in October.
Taj officials said the closing will, happen as planned October 10 resulting in a loss of about 3,000 jobs for the resort.
Local 54 of the UNITE-HERE union—which represents about 1,000 workers at the casino—has been on strike at the property since July 1. Though not labeled as an official negotiating session, the union presented Icahn’s management team with an offer during a meeting last week that it said would cost only $1.3 million more than the billionaire’s last offer to settle the strike.
The proposal would have restored health insurance in January for Taj Mahal workers that was terminated in 2014. The proposal would have also called for the adoption in September 2017 of the same contract terms that the Icahn-owned Tropicana casino agreed to with the union shortly before the Taj strike began, according to the Associated Press.
In 2014, a bankruptcy court judge allowed then Taj Mahal owner Trump Entertainment to terminate its health and pension benefits with the union. The union and Icahn—who was clearly going to take control of the property after it emerged from bankruptcy—have been waging a battle ever since. Taj Mahal management reportedly had offered a lesser restoration of benefits, but the union rejected the offer and went out on strike.
“This labor dispute has been going on for almost two years,” said union president Bob McDevitt in a press statement. “The company has saved about $25 million in labor expenses, but lost between $150 and $200 million in revenues. The proposal we put forward today allows all of us to move forward. Now it’s time to see if this company is interested in moving forward or just wants to punish workers and Atlantic City.”
However, Tony Rodio, president of the Tropicana said the meeting between the union and Taj Mahal management had been scheduled to discuss details of the closing. He also issued a lengthy and blistering statement blaming McDevitt personally for sabotaging negotiations leading to the Taj’s eventual closure.
“This was not a negotiating session,” Rodio said. “As previously announced, the Taj Mahal will close its doors on October 10, 2016. Bob McDevitt and the Taj bargaining committee have no one to blame but themselves for this sad outcome. If McDevitt cared even one iota about the future of the employees he would have allowed them to vote on the proposal we offered five weeks ago based on his recommendations, which we believe could have saved the Taj. But in the end he blindsided us and the employees because closing the Taj served his personal purposes.”
But in an interesting twist, the AP reported that despite announcing the closing on August 3, Icahn has yet to file a petition with New Jersey gambling regulators asking for permission to do so.
Still, the hammer keeps falling for employees of the property’s independent operations such as restaurants and bars. The Press of Atlantic City reported that about 60 employees of Il Mulino restaurant at the property were sent layoff notices for October 10. About 105 employees of the Hard Rock Café at the Taj were previously sent layoff notices.
