Union: 'Last Chance' For Icahn To Avoid Strike At Taj Mahal Casino

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Atlantic City's main casino workers union says it is giving billionaire Carl Icahn "one last chance" to avoid a strike at the Taj Mahal casino by reinstating employee health and pension benefits.

Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union held a public strike preparation event Tuesday, gathering materials it would need for a strike. It also trained workers to be "picket captains" in the event it makes good on its threat to strike.

Icahn is in the process of acquiring the casino from bankruptcy court, but the transfer has not yet become official. The union wants the restoration of health insurance and pension benefits that Trump Entertainment Resorts canceled last October.

Icahn has called the benefits unaffordable, adding he will close the casino if an appeals court reinstates them.

The Press of Atlantic City reported last month the casino would be sent several hundred replace workers by a staffing firm if a strike does happen.

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