The last of the Atlantic City casinos once operated by Donald J. Trump is set to close early next month.
The Trump Taj Mahal, which has been picketed since July 1 by hundreds of striking employees, will shut its doors for good after Labor Day, the casino’s management announced on Wednesday. The Taj, which Mr. Trump heralded as “the eighth wonder of the world” when it opened in 1990, would be the fifth casino in the city to close in less than three years.
The company that manages the Taj blamed the striking workers for blocking the casino’s “path to profitability.” But the president of their union, Bob McDevitt of Unite Here Local 54, said the casino’s owner, Carl C. Icahn, was willing to “burn the Trump Taj Mahal down” to punish the strikers.
Mr. Icahn acquired the Taj last year after its parent company, Trump Entertainment Resorts, filed for bankruptcy protection. Mr. Trump, who is now the Republican nominee for president, has not had a stake in the Taj since its parent company emerged from the bankruptcy proceedings. Tropicana Entertainment has been managing the Taj, as well as the Tropicana, another of the eight remaining casinos in Atlantic City.
Tony Rodio, the chief executive of Tropicana Entertainment, said in a statement that Icahn Enterprises had lost almost $100 million trying to save the Taj. “Currently, the Taj is losing multimillions a month, and now with this strike, we see no path to profitability,” he said.
Mr. Rodio said the company planned to send the casino’s employees official notices this week about its intention to close after the Labor Day weekend.
In an angry response, Mr. McDevitt said Mr. Icahn had refused to negotiate with the workers, who were demanding health insurance and other benefits similar to what other casinos in Atlantic City have promised the union’s members. Local 54 had authorized strikes at five casinos this summer, but the union reached agreements with the others.
Two weeks ago, union leaders rejected the latest offer from Mr. Icahn, and about 1,000 Taj workers remained on strike. Before the strike, Mr. Icahn had promised to invest $100 million to renovate the Taj, which has lost much of the luster it had when it was Mr. Trump’s crown jewel.
“For a few million bucks, he could have had labor peace and a content work force,” Mr. McDevitt said of Mr. Icahn in a statement, “but instead he’d rather slam the door shut on these long-term workers just to punish them and attempt to break their strike. In the end, he’ll have to live with what he’s done to working people in Atlantic City.”
The workers on strike include cooks, bartenders and room cleaners. The Taj has remained open through the strike because its managers and the dealers on the casino floor are not members of Unite Here. All told, a shutdown would eliminate nearly 3,000 jobs.
Already, the seaside resort has lost about 8,000 jobs as casinos in neighboring states lured gamblers away. The industry’s annual revenue has been cut in half — a drop of more than $2.5 billion — in the past nine years. In 2014, four casinos — the Atlantic Club, Revel, Showboat and Trump Plaza — shut their doors.
With the loss of so much tax revenue, the city’s government has been struggling to avert its own bankruptcy. In late May, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican, and legislative leaders in Trenton negotiated a bailout package intended to keep the city afloat for five months while local leaders try to balance the municipal budget. That package included a $74 million loan from the state.
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