Despite the tough talk over the past two months, the city’s office cleaners and building owners still appear likely to reach an agreement on a new four-year contract by the Jan. 1 deadline, or shortly afterward. The owners have softened some of their language, and both sides say there has been progress. But a new contract is not expected to yield substantial gains in wages or benefits.

New York City office cleaners represented by SEIU local 32BJ may go on strike this weekend if a contract agreement is not reached. A strike could affect more than 1,500 buildings; however, the New York Times reports that:

Building owners want to introduce a two-tier wage system in which new hires would make substantially less than current workers, who earn an average of $47,000 a year, and have "proposed changes in work rules and health benefits, which currently include full family medical insurance." In the public relations fight, the owners are relying on $47,000 to sound like a lot of money for a mere office cleaner to make, but this is New York City we're talking about:

In 2010, a family of two needed to bring in between $54,536 to live in lower-cost Queens and $78,476 to live in lower Manhattan and cover all of its own basic needs including food, shelter and health care, according to an annual measure released by The New York Self-Sufficiency Standard Steering Committee in June.

For these workers, what's at stake is health care, the ability to raise a family, and just plain making ends meet. Office cleaners in New Jersey and Connecticut have reached contract agreements; hopefully New York City will follow.