Striking Unite Here Local 54 members from Trump Taj Mahal
Casino Resort in Atlantic City protested Monday outside owner Carl Icahn’s
Manhattan office as they continue to put pressure on the billionaire to settle
the ongoing labor dispute and keep the property open.
Icahn, who owns Taj, said earlier this month that the
casino would close after Labor Day weekend, blaming striking workers for
preventing a “path to profitability.” During the rally, union members delivered
handwritten letters to representatives of the owner describing their plight
while working at the casino.
“We want to make a point to Mr. Icahn that middle-class
jobs are important,” Valerie McMorris, a 47-year-old
beverage server at the casino, said after the rally. “He talks about how
important middle-class jobs are. He has not invested in the workers of the Taj
Mahal.”
On Aug. 5, employees of the casino where given
state-mandated layoff notices that the property was going to close Oct. 10.
They include the more than 1,000 Local 54 members — cooks, housekeepers,
bellmen, bartenders, cocktail servers and other service workers — who have been
on strike since July 1. Taj Mahal would be the city's fifth casino to close
since 2014.
“We are not going away,” said Pete Battaglini, a
60-year-old bellman at the casino.
This is the second time in a month that union members
traveled to Icahn’s office to protest the labor situation at Taj Mahal.
Half of Taj Mahal's workers rely on taxpayer-subsidized
health insurance, according to the union. A third have no health insurance at
all, putting them at risk of bankruptcy in the event of an illness and forcing
taxpayers to pay for emergency room visits, according to union officials. Some
workers rely on other public assistance, such as food stamps, union officials
said.
“He has turned middle-class jobs into welfare jobs,”
McMorris said.
Source: Press of Atlantic City
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