ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - A federal bankruptcy court
judge was expected to issue what the owners of Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal
Casino Resort consider a make-or-break decision for the financially-troubled
gambling hall on Friday.
Trump Entertainment Resorts and billionaire investor Carl
Icahn want the judge to cancel the casino's union contract, saying it can't
survive without shedding costly pension and health care obligations.
Allan Brilliant, a lawyer for Icahn, told U.S. Bankruptcy
Judge Kevin Gross on Tuesday that Trump Entertainment needs the financial
relief that breaking the union contract would provide.
Trump Entertainment has threatened to close the casino by
Nov. 13 if it cannot shed its pension and health care obligations to the Taj
Mahal's 3,000 workers.
Gross was to issue his decision at 3 p.m. Friday.
"If you don't grant the ... motion, it's just not
viable as a business," Brilliant said Tuesday. "Ultimately very
quickly the casino will close. This is the window here; the window is open."
Icahn, who owns the Taj Mahal's $286 million in debt,
would swap that debt for ownership of the casino, and invest $100 million into
it. But that investment is contingent on massive government aid from Atlantic
City and the state.
The company says it needs big union concessions and
massive tax breaks from Atlantic City and New Jersey - both of which already
have rejected the demand. It originally sought to have Atlantic City lower its
property tax assessments by nearly 80 percent, to have the state contribute $25
million in tax credits, and for union workers to give up their pension and
health insurance. It would provide $2,000 stipends for workers to find their
own coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
After getting a negative reaction from Atlantic City
Mayor Don Guardian and state Senate President Steve Sweeney, the company
revised its financial request from the state. It is now seeking $175 million in
relief through a so-called PILOT program- payments in lieu of taxes - and the
receipt of two types of state economic grants not usually available to casinos:
the Economic Redevelopment Grant and the Urban Revitalization Grant. State
legislators would have to vote on letting the casinos into the program.
Before the ruling Friday, Local 54 of the Unite-HERE
union said Icahn has a long history of ending pension or health care coverage
for workers at companies he acquires, citing TWA Airlines, food packaging
manufacturer Viskase, home products firm Westpoint Stevens, and PSC Metals.
Icahn rejects the union criticism, saying he was responsible for saving
Atlantic City's Tropicana in 2010 in much the same way he would acquire and
preserve the Taj Mahal and its jobs.
The Taj Mahal would be the fifth of Atlantic City's 12
casinos to close this year. Its lawyers said the casino's financial situation
is so dire that it has been selling used mattresses and televisions from the
closed Trump Plaza casino to generate extra cash.
Source: Philly.com
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