ATLANTIC CITY — As a pivotal hearing drew near that could
decide the fate of the Trump Taj Mahal, its owners and its main union clashed
over pension contributions and what the company called “harassment” of its
convention clients.
In a court filing Tuesday, Local 54 of the UNITE-HERE
union offered to accept reduced pension contributions, but would not agree to
any efforts to end them. Trump Entertainment Resorts is demanding that workers
give up their entire pension and health care coverage as part of a complex plan
to keep the casino open. Trump Entertainment plans to shut the Taj Mahal on
Nov. 13 if it doesn’t get concessions from the union and massive tax breaks
from Atlantic City and the county and state governments.
Atlantic City already has rejected that demand.
The company’s proposed reorganization hinges on its
lender, billionaire Carl Icahn, pumping $100 million in new money into the
casino, which he would then own. Trump Entertainment wants a bankruptcy court
judge in Delaware to let it terminate its union contract. A hearing is
scheduled for Tuesday.
Both sides will meet on Friday for a negotiating session.
Robert Griffin, Trump Entertainment’s CEO, would not
comment directly on the union’s new offer but said the company “will remain
committed to negotiating in good faith. We hope to make the most of the three
hours we will be meeting for on Friday.”
The union also wants the eventual owner of Trump
Entertainment — most likely Icahn — to be bound by its union contract.
The company also accused the union of interfering with
its business operations by “harassing” convention customers and trying to scare
them away from the casino.
In a filing Wednesday, the company included an email from
a union organizer to Taj Mahal customers that read, “Please check your event
contract immediately to make sure you have secured language that will protect
your event should the Taj Mahal close and/or if there is a labor dispute.”
The filing also says the union is threatening to put up
picket lines that Taj Mahal attendees would have to cross. One group already
has backed out of a booking, the company said.
Union spokesman Ben Begleiter said the group is “well
within our rights under the First Amendment to let people know there is a labor
dispute going on here.”
Four of Atlantic City’s 12 casinos have closed this year;
the Taj Mahal would be the fifth.
Icahn has said he would consider putting $100 million
into the Taj Mahal, but only if all the preconditions were met, including union
givebacks, a drastic lessening of the tax assessments of the Taj Mahal and the
now-shuttered Trump Plaza casino, and $25 million in tax credits from a state
redevelopment agency.
The company must soon decide whether to close the Taj
Mahal; it would need time to file a formal request with New Jersey casino
regulators to close the casino by its Nov. 13 deadline — something it has not
yet done.
Source: Las
Vegas Review-Journal
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