Janitors who clean more than 2,000 office buildings in Greater Boston are expected to decide Saturday whether to authorize a strike if a contract agreement is not reached before the end of the month.
The union representing about 13,000 janitors is currently in contract negotiations and pushing for wage increases, as well as for more full-time jobs in the heavily part-time industry, so more members will have access to employer-paid health care.
If an agreement cannot be reached by Sept. 30, when the current contract expires, the janitors may opt to strike. The vote to authorize the strike is scheduled for Saturday, two weeks after US Senator Elizabeth Warren rallied with thousands of janitors on Boston Common.
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Since 2012, the janitors’ union worked with service contractors to convert about 700 Boston jobs into full-time positions in notable buildings, including the Prudential Center, 200 Clarendon (formerly the John Hancock Tower), One Post Office Square, and One Beacon Street, said Roxana Rivera, vice president of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers.
Rivera said the union’s goal now is to have building contractors in more areas commit to adding at least 700 more full-time jobs over the next few years under a new contract, especially in Cambridge, which, like Boston, is experiencing very low office vacancy rates and high rents.
“We feel the economy is booming and could lead to opportunities for workers to work one full-time job,” Rivera said. “Stabilizing a workforce, we think, is a better outcome for the building owners and it obviously helps working families here in Massachusetts not to cobble together several part-time jobs just to make ends meet.”
Negotiations with Maintenance Contractors of New England, a consortium representing 20 of the largest building service contractors in Greater Boston, have been ongoing since early September. With both sides scheduled to return to the bargaining table Thursday, Friday, and all of next week, the group is confident an agreement can be reached before Sept. 30, said Matt Ellis, a spokesman for the maintenance contractors.
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“From our perspective, negotiations are going well at this point. There are a lot of proposals on the table and we’re carefully reviewing those,” Ellis said. “We think we can come to a resolution. We don’t think this is going to end up with a strike.”
Rivera said the union has been able to negotiate pay increases from $9 per hour to $18 per hour under previous contracts, as well as improve industry standards for the janitors who are mostly immigrant workers. Several building owners, she added, have been receptive to making the changes, but the industry remains about 70 percent part time.
If history is any indicator, the strike authorization is likely to pass. The union janitors have consecutively approved strike actions in 2002, 2007, and 2012. Strikes were avoided in the last two bargaining sessions, but in 2002 the workers went on a three-week work stoppage before a contract agreement was reached.
Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @GlobeKConti.