Three of the major service providers at Penn reported yesterday that nearly all of their employees have shown up for work for the past two days despite the lack of public transportation.
"There has not been a remarkable impact on our operations," Aramark spokeswoman Julie Camardo said.
Aramark is Penn's dining subcontractor.
Most of SEPTA's transportation lines have been shut down since Monday morning, making the daily commute difficult for nearly half a million of the city's workers.
Last night, SEPTA management and union leaders returned to the negotiating table, although no resolution is expected yet.
And, as of 7:30 last night, Dining Services employee Vivian Johnson still did not know how she was going to get home.
She hoped that a nephew would give her a ride back to her house at North 51st Street and Westminster Avenue, but failing that, she might have had to walk home from her post at 1920 Commons through the dark streets. She said that she could not afford a cab.
Johnson's co-worker at 1920 Commons, Barbara Smith, said that there is little choice but to keep going to work.
"You got to pay your bills," Smith said. "If you miss too many days, they're going to fire you."
Smith said that she noticed four out of her about 25 co-workers missing from work yesterday. She also said that the strike has affected the commute of more than 75 percent of her co-workers at Commons.
Johnson said that most are now walking to work, as very few of the Commons employees have cars.
"It's very, very inconvenient," she said. "I don't have a way to get groceries, I don't have a way to see my family. I'm very upset about it."
Victoria Rich, the chief nursing officer at HUP, reported that despite the inconveniences, most hospital employees have been making it to work.
"There's been a few calls because [people] have been unable to get in," Rich said, "but we have not in any way jeopardized patient care or the efficiency of the operations of the hospital."
She added that the vast majority of employees have in fact been at work. She has heard a number of stories, she said, of people organizing two or three different rides to get to the hospital.
Since the SEPTA strike has led to overcrowding on the regional rail lines -- which are still running -- Rich herself has been forced to take the 5:30 a.m. train to get to the hospital. For similar reasons, she said she does not even attempt to get on a regional rail train home before 7 p.m.
Though Rich hopes the hospital will not see a drop in its workforce should the strike continue for a long time, she said it is something that hospital officials will keep a close watch on.
If the strike is prolonged, she said, one solution for the the hospital could be to send out vehicles to pick up its employees, as it sometimes does during snowstorms.
AlliedBarton, the on-campus security contractor that deploys about 400 guards on campus throughout the course of the day, also reported high attendance.
Ninety-eight percent of the company's guards were at work on Monday, and nobody was absent yesterday. Ordinarily, the attendance is between 97 and 100 percent, AlliedBarton spokesman Larry Rubin said.
The posts of all of the guards missing on Monday were filled by other personnel, he said.
Though many of the on-campus AlliedBarton workers are from the West Philadelphia area, the company has set up a shuttle system to help all of its employees get to their posts.
AlliedBarton employees can also take the Penn and Drexel shuttle buses that have been running between Center and University cities.
Meanwhile, Penn Director of Business Services Larry Bell reported that Penn's contingency transportation plans are proving effective.
Though heavy traffic caused by the strike delayed some of the University's shuttle buses yesterday, there were no major problems, he said.
Bell also said that on both Monday and Tuesday, campus parking lots were not filled to capacity.
Should parking become a problem, though, Bell said plans are in place to open another parking lot at 38th and Spruce streets and, if necessary, to set up a lot at the Sayre Middle School at 58th and Walnut streets with shuttle service to the campus.
"We've got plans in place if [the number of cars] increases, but I hope it stays the same," Bell said.
"We just hope that they settle soon."
Sticky issue - SEPTA: Workers should pay 5% of insurance - Union: Workers should contribute percentage of pay
