News

Trump Taj Mahal closes permanently

by Rebecca Savransky 10/11/16 10:25 AM CDT

The Trump Taj Mahal officially closed down on Monday, according to multiple reports.

The closing of the Atlantic City casino-hotel put 3,000 people out of work.

{mosads}Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, the current owner of the casino, said the closure was a result of a disagreement with unionized workers.

Icahn said in a statement Monday that the casino had lost “almost $250 million over just a few short years.”

“It was simply impossible to find a workable path forward that would not have required funding additional investments and losses in excess of $100 million over the next year,” Icahn said.

“Like many of the employees at the Taj Mahal, I wish things had turned out differently.”

Earlier this month, Trump said in an interview with The Associates Press that he felt “they should have been able to make a deal.”

“It’s hard to believe they weren’t able to make a deal.”

Although the Republican presidential nominee no longer owns the casino, it still bears his name through an agreement with Icahn.

On July 1, more than 1,000 cooks, housekeepers, bellmen, bartenders, cocktail servers and other service workers at the casino went on strike.

The strike began after disagreements between management and the union representing Atlantic City casino workers, Unite Here Local 54. The main issue in the strike had to do with health insurance and pension benefits, according to the AP.

Union President Bob McDevitt said in a statement following the closure that Icahn “would rather burn the Trump Taj Mahal down just so he can control the ashes.”

“For a few million bucks he could have had labor peace and a content workforce,” McDevitt said. “But instead he’d rather slam the door shut on these long-term workers just to punish them and attempt to break their strike.”