The Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City will close after Labor
Day weekend after owner and financier Carl Icahn couldn’t reach an agreement
with the Unite Here labor union representing about 1,000 workers.
Presidential nominee Donald Trump is no longer involved with
the 2,010-room hotel casino.
The property’s employees have been striking since July 1.
“Our directors 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,” said Tony Rodio, CEO of Tropicana Entertainment, the
company that operates the Trump Taj Mahal.
Rodio said that Icahn has lost almost $100 million on the
property since taking it over. The hotel emerged from bankruptcy in February under
Icahn’s ownership. He had been financing the casino since it filed for
bankruptcy in September 2014.
The hotel opened in 1990 and was near closure in 2014, the
same year when the 904-room Trump Plaza, 1,898-room Revel, 1,300-room Showboat,
and 801-room Atlantic Club were shuttered in Atlantic City.
“A few million dollars is a drop in the bucket compared to
the money he publicly promised he would put into the Trump Taj Mahal,” said
Unite Here Local 54 President Bob McDevitt in a statement on Wednesday. “This
titan of Wall Street is utterly incapable of making a decision unless it is
mean-spirited and benefitting him alone, and he is plagued with indecisiveness
when things don’t go his way.”