“No more union busting,” read one of the banners at the Student Labor Action Project’s rally in front of College Hall and Steinberg-Dietrich Hall Friday.

The rally was intended to levy pressure on the administration, particularly Penn President Amy Gutmann and Wharton Dean Tom Robertson, to withdraw the University’s investments in HEI, a hotel management corporation.

HEI is involved in a labor dispute with its employees while they are working to organize a union. SLAP fliers at the rally alleged employee harassment and intimidation, as well as compensation lower than living wages.

SLAP has been supporting HEI employees’ efforts to unionize and obtain acceptable working conditions since fall 2008.

Though at times raucous, the protest was peaceful and efficient. Within minutes of its initiation, College sophomore and SLAP coordinator Rosie Brown led a group of students, as well as current and former HEI employees, inside College Hall. The delegation’s aim was to express the employees’ grievances to Gutmann and put pressure on the administration to divest from HEI.

“Although we welcome and respect the right of the students and other members of our community to voice their concerns about labor and other social issues,” University spokeswoman Lori Doyle wrote in an e-mail, “the resolution of this labor issue ... is between HEI and their employees and we, as a University, do not get involved in such disputes.”

Though Gutmann was not in her office at the time of the rally, the delegation left a letter signed by numerous employees with Secretary of the University Leslie Kruhly.

Several HEI employees were at the rally. An employee of the HEI-owned Crystal City Sheraton in Virginia drove up to deliver the microphone and took part in the chants to show his support.

The chants ranged from “si se puede” — meaning “yes, we can” in Spanish — to “stop giving our money to HEI.” Breaks between the chants lasted no more than 30 seconds.

Mark Gonzales, a self-ascribed humanitarian and a speaker at the event, highlighted the personal importance of the rally to him, saying it is “important to not only look at human rights in other countries, but also in our own.”

“We just want a living wage,” he added.

After leaving the letter with Kruhly, the group proceeded down Locust Walk to gather in front of Steinberg-Dietrich. Again, a delegation of current and former employees formed within minutes to engage in a discussion with Robertson.

Like Gutmann, Robertson was not at his office at the time of the rally, leaving the group to deliver an additional letter at the dean’s office.

Ferdi Lazo, one of the fired employees present at the rally, said he was laid off five months ago for being an hour late to work.

“We’re organizing and fighting to have a fair process,” he said, adding that if HEI does not respond to worker complaints in the next six months, “we’ll have a boycott.”