In the early morning hours on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, nearly a thousand hotel workers went on strike July 1 against the Trump Taj Mahal after negotiations broke down over night. The strike entered its sixth day on Wednesday.
In front of the hotel were two strikers, Kaushik and Bina Vashi, both immigrants from India and housekeepers in the local union, UNITE HERE 54. For eight years, husband and wife Kaushik, 62, and Bina, 49, have kept the beds clean at the Trump Taj Mahal. For them, immigrant networks have bolstered the power of union organizing.
Like many unions today, UNITE HERE is increasingly reliant on immigrants like the Vashis for strength. In New Jersey, 10 percent of UNITE HERE 54 is Indian, and many more are Latino. Union president Bob McDevitt announced in 2013 that the union supported rights for undocumented immigrants, quite the change from the days when unions fought for racial immigration quotas.
At stake in the current strike is healthcare. In the fall of 2014, workers at the Trump Taj Mahal lost their healthcare, union spokesman Ben Begleiter said. The company is not owned Donald Trump, but by billionaire Carl Icahn. Other union workers at the Caesars, Bally’s, Harrah’s, and Tropicana hotels reached an agreement on healthcare before the Fourth of July weekend. Workers are looking for pay raises above their current rate, which is just below $12 an hour, the union said.