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 "Hopefully, we're getting our voices heard, making a statement
that our health benefits are very important to us," said Paul Smith,
46, a cook at the Taj Mahal casino who came dressed in medical
scrubs.
There were no reported injuries and none of the demonstrators
resisted arrest. Police estimated that 300 people took part in the
protests. Representatives of the union said there were 750
protesters.
The demonstration came on the 10-year anniversary of a similar
protest that closed seven Atlantic City casinos for over a month in
a labor dispute.
Bob McDevitt, the president of the union representing the workers,
said the dispute was over the same issues, health and pension
benefits.
"When they were rolling in money, they wanted to take it all away
from us 10 years ago," McDevitt said.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, the owner of the Taj Mahal, filed for
bankruptcy last month and is seeking bankruptcy court permission to
terminate health benefits and a pension plan.
 The company has said it will close in November if a deal is not
reached on benefits and taxes.
A spokesman for Trump Entertainment said on Wednesday the company
had no comment.
If the Taj Mahal closes in November, it would become the fifth
Atlantic City casino to be shuttered this year. The city started the
year with 12 casinos.
While the Taj Mahal itself is several blocks away from the protest
site, the demonstration took place near the Tropicana, owned by
billionaire investor Carl Icahn.
Workers held signs featuring what appeared to be images of Icahn.
"Billionaire picking over our bones," the placards read.
Icahn, Trump Entertainment's main creditor, has proposed converting
the debt owed to him into ownership of the company.
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"This is bigger than just one property," said Ben Begleiter, a
spokesman for Unite Here Local 54, which represents about 1,100 of
the Taj Mahal's 3,000 employees under a collective bargaining
agreement.
Although he was the target of criticism by the union, which believes
he may be behind demands for concessions, Icahn told Reuters in a
telephone interview that he was simply asked by Trump management to
put $100 million into the casino if the union gave concessions.
"I said I would consider it," Icahn said. "Now they are saying I
asked for concessions, which I didn't."
In 2004, nearly 100 union demonstrators were arrested after blocking
the streets near the off-ramp to the Atlantic City Expressway during
a 34-day strike at seven Atlantic City casinos.
The expressway serves as the major highway entrance into the city,
which sits on a barrier island. State police blocked access to one
of the expressway's off ramps before the demonstration began.
(Reporting by Daniel Kelley in Philadelphia; Editing by Susan
Heavey, Eric Walsh, Dan Whitcomb and Ken Wills)
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