The company said that those repairs needed to be done regardless of whether the casino is open or closed. In August, just days after Icahn announced the closure plans, work crews repaired parts of the casino's facade and Boardwalk entry ways. Icahn and Taj Mahal management did not respond to repeated requests for comment on their plans for the building.
McDevitt said union job actions including picketing and a campaign to get convention groups to patronize other Atlantic City casinos would immediately resume if the Taj attempts to reopen without a union contract. McDevitt said 'there's a strong possibility' that Icahn will keep the casino closed over the winter while conducting renovations and capital improvements, then attempt to reopen it in the spring as a non-union facility. Yet that option is exactly what the union's president, Bob McDevitt, and many striking Taj Mahal workers suspect might happen. 'Once it closes, it's too expensive to ever reopen it,' he said. 3 to close the casino, saying it lacked a 'path to profitability.' Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union went on strike July 1, after it could not agree with Icahn on a new contract to restore health insurance and pension benefits that were terminated two years ago in bankruptcy court. Trump said both sides should have been able to work out a deal to keep the casino open.
