Tropicana security blocks protest letter from casino workers
Casino security at Tropicana Casino and Resort Atlantic City refused to accept a letter addressed to its owner Carl Icahn from casino workers protesting against the loss of health and pension coverage at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Hotel.
The workers marched to the Tropicana to attempt to hand-deliver a letter to Icahn, where they believed he was staying.
Icahn prevented the Taj Mahal from closing last year by agreeing to provide the necessary $20m needed to take the casino through bankruptcy proceedings, and his bankruptcy restructuring plan was approved by a federal judge in March.
The letter, written on behalf of Taj Mahal and Tropicana workers, is quoted by the Associated Press as saying: “You took away our health care, our pension, our lunch breaks and everything else that made these decent jobs.
“We want them back. You have more money than we do. But having more money does not give you the right to destroy our health, our livelihoods or our quality of life.”
Security allowed the workers to gather in a vestibule, but did not accept the letter.
Icahn said: “But no one can deny the Taj would be closed without my agreement to lend up to an additional $80m.
“Additionally, it’s a bald-faced lie to keep saying that I took away their health care. I am not, nor have I ever been, on the Taj board or part of management. That being said, I have a simple question: Given that the Taj continues to lose money even without providing health care and with the new work rules, where is the money to restore health care and work rules supposed to come from?”
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