by Donald Wood
Last updated: 5:00 PM ET, Mon October 10, 2016
On Monday, the Trump Taj Mahal officially closed its doors for good 26 years after Donald Trump opened it on the Atlantic City boardwalk.
According to The Associated Press, the Trump Taj Mahal closed at 5:59 a.m. local time Monday morning after officials couldn't come to an agreement with union workers about health care and pension benefits.
In total, almost 3,000 employees have lost their jobs in the shutdown. The Trump Taj Mahal is the fifth casino to close in Atlantic City since 2014, and the number of people who have lost jobs in the casino closings has risen to 11,000.
The decision to close the facility was made by Carl Icahn, who determined there was "no path to profitability" following the union strike that began on July 1. Icahn also weighed in on the closure, saying, "Today is a sad day for Atlantic City. Like many of the employees at the Taj Mahal, I wish things had turned out differently."
When asked about the Trump Taj Mahal closure, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump told The AP, "I felt they should have been able to make a deal. It's hard to believe they weren't able to make a deal."
Unite-HERE Local 54 union had reached contract agreements with four of the five casinos it had targeted for a possible strike, but couldn't make a deal with Trump Taj Mahal officials. The union also granted negotiation extensions to three other casinos, including the Borgata, Resorts and the Golden Nugget.
With its closure, Trump Taj Mahal joins the Atlantic Club, Showboat, Trump Plaza and Revel as the five casinos to shut down since the economic struggles in Atlantic City started forcing closures in 2014.
The closure of the Trump Taj Mahal is a devastating blow to Atlantic City and the residents who depend on the facility for a job, including Chuck Baker, a cook who has served at the casino since it opened in 1990.
"I was here when these doors opened, and I'll be here when they close," Baker told The AP. "This didn't have to happen. To (Icahn), it's all just business. But to us, it's destroying our livelihoods and our families. You take away our health care, our pensions and overload the workers, we just can't take it."
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