Published: August 21, 2010

It is official, cleaners and landscapers at the University of Miami are ok to strike.

The group's union voted Saturday, Aug. 21 to authorize a strike if their negotiating committee can not reach a new contract after the old one expires Aug. 31.

Workers are demanding raises and improved benefits from UNICCO, the university's Boston-based contractor.

Service Employees International Union is negotiating for the almost 400 workers who service both the university campus and the Sylvester Cancer Center.

If the strike goes forward it will be the second such action taken by workers who held a nine-week strike in 2006 after claiming unfair labor practices, low pay, lack of health benefits and workplace safety issues.

Union representative Eugenio H. Villasante said the authorization to strike was based upon a show of hands of 250 members who met at the Bede Episcopal Chapel in Coral Gables.