Many of the city's immigrant workers walked off the job as part of a massive protest May 1, but the strike seems to have gone largely unnoticed by Penn and nearby businesses.
Protesters gathered in Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, New York and other large cities in response to proposed congressional reform calling for harsher immigration laws, particularly regarding illegal immigrants. The Day Without An Immigrant, as the event was called, saw hundreds of thousands of people either walk off the job or shut down their businesses.
But employers at Penn and area businesses said the effect of the walkout was unnoticeable.
"To the best of our knowledge, the immigrant strike on May 1 had no impact on University operations," Penn Vice President for Human Resources Jack Heuer wrote in an e-mail statement.
Kristine Grow, a spokeswoman for Aramark Corp. -- the multinational Philadelphia-based company which administers Penn's Dining Services -- said the strike didn't affect the company's operations nationwide. About 200 of its employees work in eateries and cafeterias located throughout campus, she said.
"For employees taking time off that day, we applied our attendance policies," Grow said. She wouldn't reveal how many employees didn't report to work, nor would she say what actions were taken, citing employee confidentiality issues.
However, she added that "Aramark ... fully respects the rights of our employees to participate in peaceful rallies and demonstrations."
A crowd of protesters marched from Camden, N.J., to Philadelphia via the Benjamin Franklin Bridge before assembling for a 2 p.m. rally at Sixth and Market streets. They carried flags representing Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
Calls to several University City restaurants and pizzerias revealed that no employees missed work to attend the rally. Many of these business owners, who declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said almost none of their workers were immigrants.
Others said workers who were not scheduled to work that day may have attended the rally, but without informing their employers.
Copabanana co-owner Bill Curry said that no one from the bar, located at 4000 Spruce St., attended the rally.
"We basically hire the neighborhood," he said.
A report compiled by the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania indicated that the vast majority of Mexicans in the city live in South Philadelphia. The same report stated that other Latino populations lived in the North or South sections of the city.
Tom Kurland, a spokesman for the White Dog Cafe, located at 3420 Sansom St., said that no employees requested the day off to attend the rally, either.
"We do encourage our employees to be socially active," he said. "If someone requests a day off -- as long as they can get their shift covered -- we absolutely support them in doing that," he said.
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