{"id":38043,"date":"2016-08-04T16:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T23:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=38043"},"modified":"2016-08-04T14:08:51","modified_gmt":"2016-08-04T21:08:51","slug":"trump-taj-mahal-ironically-closing-on-labor-day-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trump-taj-mahal-ironically-closing-on-labor-day-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"After Long Union Fight, Trump Taj Mahal Ironically Closing on Labor Day Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump Taj Mahal is about to become the fifth Atlantic City casino to close its doors for good in 3 years. Its closure will signal an end to the Trump casino brand once and for all.<\/p>\n

\"Trump
Union members protest outside the Trump Taj Mahal, which will close its doors on September 4, 2016. Icahn Enterprises says it has lost $100 million on the venture. (Image: Wayne Parry\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the midst of industrial action by members of the Unite Here Local 54 Union<\/a>, who have been picketing the Taj for weeks, investor Carl Icahn<\/a> has given up on the stricken casino and will shutter it permanently on September 4.<\/p>\n

That closure date hits right in the middle of Labor Day, which might be a wild coincidence, or it might be a deliberate and final insult to the union, which Icahn blames for derailing his last-ditch attempt to save the Taj.<\/p>\n

Icahn stepped in to rescue the casino in 2014, when its previous owners, Trump Entertainment, declared bankruptcy. The billionaire corporate raider owned the majority of its $286 million debt, which he was prepared to convert into equity.<\/p>\n

Icahn also said he was prepared to invest $100 million in the property, if, and only if, he were granted certain concessions by the city. These included the temporary cessation of worker pension and healthcare benefits, which have become the focus of the squabble between Icahn Enterprises and the casino workers’ union.<\/p>\n

Out $100 Million<\/h2>\n

According to Local 54 leader Bob McDevitt, Icahn has chosen to \u201cburn the Trump Taj Mahal down\u201d in order to \u201cpunish\u201d strikers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a few million bucks, he could have had labor peace and a content work force,\u201d McDevitt said in a statement. \u201cBut instead he\u2019d rather slam the door shut on these long-term workers just to punish them and attempt to break their strike. In the end, he\u2019ll have to live with what he\u2019s done to working people in Atlantic City.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But according to Tony Rodio, chief executive of Icahn Enterprises\u2019 casino subsidiary Tropicana Entertainment, the workers\u2019 demands have made the continued operation of the casino impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, the Taj is losing multimillions a month, and now with this strike, we see no path to profitability,\u201d Rodio said. He added that Icahn Enterprises had lost around $100 million since it took over the Taj.<\/p>\n

Bankrupt Eighth Wonder<\/h2>\n

The casino was declared to be the \u201ceighth wonder of the world\u201d by the current Republican presidential nominee when he opened it in 1990, at a cost of $1 billion. In 1991, it became the first wonder of the world to go under\u00a0since the Colossus of Rhodes was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Trump sold his Atlantic City casino interests to a group of venture capitalists, who formed Trump Entertainment. While he has had nothing to do with the management of the Taj since, he was able to negotiate a deal whereby he retained a ten percent stake in the casino in return for the use of his famous brand name.<\/p>\n

However, in 2014, incensed by what he saw as Trump Entertainment\u2019s mismanagement of the Taj and its sister Atlantic City property the Plaza, he litigated to have his name removed from both casinos. He later relented following his old friend Icahn\u2019s intervention. He also relinquished the stake when Trump Entertainment declared for bankruptcy protection.<\/p>\n

The Labor Day weekend closure of the Trump Taj Mahal will leave only seven casinos operating in the beachside resort, which has been fighting financial problems for years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump Taj Mahal is about to become the fifth Atlantic City casino to close its doors for good in 3 years. Its closure will signal an end to the Trump casino brand once and for all. In the midst of industrial action by members of the Unite Here Local 54 Union, who have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":38054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,10,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTrump Taj Mahal Ironically Closing on Labor Day Weekend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Trump Taj Mahal will close permanently Labor Day weekend, as Icahn washes his hands of the stricken Atlantic City casino following lengthy union issues.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump Taj Mahal Ironically Closing on Labor Day Weekend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Trump Taj Mahal will close permanently Labor Day weekend, as Icahn washes his hands of the stricken Atlantic City casino following lengthy union issues.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trump-taj-mahal-ironically-closing-on-labor-day-weekend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-04T23:00:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-04T21:08:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Trump-Taj-Mahal-closing-September-4-2016.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"585\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trump-taj-mahal-ironically-closing-on-labor-day-weekend\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trump-taj-mahal-ironically-closing-on-labor-day-weekend\/\",\"name\":\"Trump Taj Mahal Ironically Closing on Labor Day Weekend\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trump-taj-mahal-ironically-closing-on-labor-day-weekend\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trump-taj-mahal-ironically-closing-on-labor-day-weekend\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Trump-Taj-Mahal-closing-September-4-2016.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-04T23:00:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-04T21:08:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The Trump Taj Mahal will close permanently Labor Day weekend, as Icahn washes his hands of the stricken Atlantic City casino following lengthy union issues.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trump-taj-mahal-ironically-closing-on-labor-day-weekend\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trump-taj-mahal-ironically-closing-on-labor-day-weekend\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trump-taj-mahal-ironically-closing-on-labor-day-weekend\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Trump-Taj-Mahal-closing-September-4-2016.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Trump-Taj-Mahal-closing-September-4-2016.jpg\",\"width\":780,\"height\":585,\"caption\":\"Union members protest outside the Trump Taj, which will close its doors on September 4, 2016. 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