A New Jersey judge on Thursday banned an Atlantic City union from using a light projector to beam critical messages onto the exterior walls of casinos owned or about to be owned by billionaire Carl Icahn.
Trump Entertainment Resorts got an injunction barring Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union from beaming the messages onto the Taj Mahal, Tropicana and the shuttered Trump Plaza. They used the projector to beam messages like "Boycott Taj" onto the walls of the casinos at night, a favorite tactic during their yearlong battle with Icahn over benefits and working conditions.
The ruling came hours after the New Jersey State AFL-CIO asked union members to boycott the Tropicana and the Trump Taj Mahal. The group cited a bitter fight between the Taj Mahal and Local 54 over the company's termination of health insurance and pension plans for Taj Mahal workers.
Trump Entertainment said it sought a court order blocking the union from further light-show displays on its property, saying the union had done so nearly a dozen times within the past year.
"We are gratified that the court put a stop to Local 54 activities that only harm the perception of Atlantic City and their own members," the company said in a statement issued after the ruling.
The union had no immediate comment on the ruling.
It came hours after the state AFL-CIO asked union members to boycott the Tropicana, which Icahn owns, and the Trump Taj Mahal, which he is in the process of acquiring from bankruptcy court.
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The labor group union cited a bitter fight between the Taj Mahal and Local 54 over the company's termination of health insurance and pension plans for Taj Mahal workers. The local union has authorized a strike against the Taj Mahal but has not yet begun one.
"We respectfully ask affiliated union members and their friends and family to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters at Unite-HERE Local 54, who have borne the brunt of Icahn's ruthless and greedy assault on workers," the AFL-CIO said in a statement.
It called on the "billionaire robber-baron" to restore health and pension coverage to workers. Trump Entertainment Resorts got a federal bankruptcy to approve the termination of those benefits last October.
Icahn did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. But he has said the union-run health plan is unaffordable and excessive.
The union has asked an appeals court to reinstate the benefits, and a ruling is expected soon. But Icahn has said if they are restored, he will withdraw financial support from the Taj Mahal, forcing it to close.
He has said the union-run health plan is a cash-cow that charges unjustifiable fees to generate a profit for the union.
Many Taj Mahal workers have had to purchase health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, with a subsidy from Trump Entertainment. But some say they still cannot afford it, and are simply going without health insurance.
