Striking Taj Mahal workers revisit Icahn's N.Y. office

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.

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