Contract talks began yesterday between a dozen employers and Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, representing 2,000 cleaners of commercial office buildings in Westchester County and elsewhere in the Lower Hudson Valley.

The current three-year contract expires at the end of this year. The union has threatened to strike at more than 125 buildings it serves, including the majority of large buildings in downtown White Plains, if a new deal is not reached before then.

The union is seeking a four-year contract that would increase the hourly wage by 75 cents an hour each year. With pay currently at $10.50 an hour, that would mean a 7.14 percent wage increase.

A majority of the workers are employed for just 20 hours a week, said Shirley Aldebol, director of Local 32BJ's Hudson Valley office in New Rochelle. The union is also looking for a provision that would increase the minimum number of weekly hours by five.

A longer workweek would mean workers would have to juggle fewer jobs, Aldebol said. Some hold two or three to make a living.

The talks started at the Holiday Inn in Stamford, Conn., and will move back and forth between there and the Radisson in New Rochelle, she said.

The cleaning companies include two based in Westchester: A&A Maintenance in Yonkers, and Kencal Maintenance Corp. in White Plains. Others in the metro area include OneSource, American Building Maintenance, Accent Maintenance, Prem, Superior Maintenance, United Building Maintenance, Skyscraper, Dynaserv, Pro-Clean and Guardian.

Kencal President Kenneth Hirschberg said the employers had just received the union's proposals yesterday, and had not yet examined them in detail.