Trump Taj Mahal officially shuts down

Donald Trump said that there was no reason to end the operations.

US.- Gaming operations at casino Taj Mahal in Atlantic City officially ended yesterday, after a tough year of disruptions between workers and Carl Icahn, owner of the establishment. The Taj Mahal is the fifth casino to cease services in the former capital gaming city of the world since 2014.

“The eighth wonder of the world,” as the original investor Donald Trump named it, was not able to resolve the strike held by union members that lasted more than 100 days. “There’s no reason for this,” said Trump, the Republican candidate in the race for the presidency.

Local 54 of the Unite-HERE, Taj Mahl’s workers union, had set the strike after they couldn’t agree with Icahn on a new contract to restore health insurance and pension benefits that were terminated two years ago in bankruptcy court.

The Taj Mahal casino opened 26 years ago and it has faced bankruptcy restructurings after enduring chronic declines. Icahn was in charge of the establishment when Trump left it, and bought it out of bankruptcy in 2014. Workers of the casino have tried to negotiate their rights since then.

Icahn declared that he lost almost US$350 million on his Taj Mahal investment and was looking stem the money bleeding. “Today is a sad day for Atlantic City. Despite our best efforts, which included losing almost US$350 million over just a few short years, we were unable to save the Taj Mahal,” he stated.