Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) — New Jersey casino workers threatened with the loss of their jobs if they don’t accept cuts in health and pension benefits plan a protest today in front of Carl Icahn’s Tropicana in Atlantic City.
Members of Unite Here Local 54 are locked in a battle with management of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., the Atlantic City casino operator that declared bankruptcy last month. Management is seeking to shift workers from a traditional pension to a 401(k) program and end the company’s health-care plan, moving employees to an Affordable Care Act-sponsored program. If not, the company would close the Trump Taj Mahal.
Workers have targeted Icahn, Trump Entertainment’s biggest creditor, because he has proposed taking over the Taj Mahal and has said he’ll invest $100 million in the resort, keeping it open if he can obtain concessions from local governments and labor. The billionaire, through his Icahn Enterprises Holdings LP, is also the majority shareholder of Tropicana Entertainment Inc., which owns its namesake Atlantic City property.
“We are currently focused on trying to save the Trump Taj Mahal and the approximately 3,000 jobs and numerous business relationships associated with that property,” Trump Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Robert Griffin said in an e-mailed statement. He said the company was losing money, had dwindling cash reserves and had “sought assistance from all of our key stakeholders.”
Tropicana officials didn’t return calls and e-mails after business hours.
New Jersey State Senate President Steve Sweeney will join casino workers and other public officials at the protest, scheduled for 11 a.m. New York time, according to a release from the senator, a Democrat from West Deptford.
Several hundred casino workers, some chanting “no health care, no peace,” blocked a highway in Atlantic City on Oct. 8 to protest the proposed concessions. Twenty-four people were arrested, according to Ben Begleiter, a spokesman for the union.
–With assistance from Michael Bathon in Wilmington.
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