Local 54 of UNITE-HERE offered Sept. 26 to accept reduced
pension contributions for its Trump Taj Mahal workers, according to a Tuesday
filing by the casino workers union in federal bankruptcy court in Wilmington,
Delaware.
The letter, which was issued following a Sept. 24
bargaining meeting between the union and casino parent company Trump
Entertainment Resorts, says the union would have taken such a reduction subject
to the approval of the National Retirement Fund. It offered to consider another
plan offering benefit accrual in line with that of the national fund should
such approval not be given.
Trump Entertainment plans to shut the Taj 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. The Taj says it cannot stay open if
it continues to make health and pension payments and that workers instead
should obtain health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and be offered a
401(k) retirement option.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross is expected to consider
the company’s request to make sweeping changes to its labor contract with Local
54 at a hearing Tuesday. Both sides are expected to meet for a negotiating
session Friday.
Case filings show a heated debate between the union and
resort leadership, with Trump Entertainment Resorts lawyers on Wednesday accusing
the union of violating bankruptcy procedures by urging the casino’s convention
clients to take their business elsewhere.
The Trump Entertainment motion includes a quote from a
letter, attributed to union worker Kaitlyn Schechter, urging convention
attendees to put into their contracts language protecting them in the event of
a labor dispute or closing.
The motion further alleges the union illegally obtained
the lists of upcoming convention attendees, which are not publicly available,
for the purpose of sending its letter.
Trump Entertainment Resorts is asking that sanctions be
issued against the union and that they be required to retract the statements in
their letters.
Local 54 representative Ben Begleiter said it’s the
union’s belief that the First Amendment and the National Labor Relations Act
protect its right to explain the facts of a labor dispute with customers, many
of whom might be sympathetic.
“Atlantic City is a market that has a great deal of
labor- and union-friendly customers, and they don’t want to put themselves in
the middle of a dispute with an employer that’s trying to eliminate the health
care plan for over 1,000 workers,” he said.
Robert Griffin, Trump Entertainment’s CEO, would not
comment directly on the union’s offer of reduced pension contributions 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 company must soon decide whether to close the Taj. 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.
Billionaire Carl Icahn controls about $286 million in
first-lien debt secured by the Taj Mahal and the closed Trump Plaza Hotel and
Casino. He has suggested he is open to helping save the Taj by turning debt
into equity and providing $100 million in capital to Trump Entertainment, but
only if union and government officials deliver concessions.
Source: Press
of Atlantic City.com
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