Janitors who clean local aerospace companies voted Thursday to allow their union's negotiating committee to authorize a strike if talks over a new contract do not show enough progress.

The vote preceded a noontime rally Thursday in El Segundo by about 100 janitors and their supporters in front of facilities they clean, which are operated by Northrop Grumman Corp., Boeing Co. and Raytheon Co., along Imperial Highway west of Aviation Boulevard.

The janitors, whose previous contract expired July 22, are demanding that their individual health insurance benefits be expanded to include their families. They also want a wage increase beyond the current $8.30 an hour, which union members say is inadequate in the face of rising inflation.

About 500 aerospace janitors working in the South Bay are members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1877, which is negotiating with cleaning contractors that serve the aerospace firms.

"The majority of the janitorial industry in Los Angeles has full family health benefits," said David Huerta, the SEIU local's building services director and a member of the union's negotiating committee. "We're not looking to make up all that difference in one contract. But we want to make inroads toward getting to parity with the industry."

Huerta noted that janitors in Los Angeles' commercial real estate industry earn about $12 an hour.

Huerta did not say when a strike decision may occur, but added, "We do not intend to go beyond next week without a contract."

The negotiations began almost a month ago with no resolution. Janitors at Boeing facilities in Long Beach are included in the talks.

Leading up to the previous contract three years ago, janitors went on strike for three weeks and held much larger rallies sometimes reaching more than 400 demonstrators.

In an email to the Breeze, Northrop Grumman spokesman Jim Hart said: "Janitorial services are provided by an outside contractor, and as a matter of policy we don't get involved in the labor relations of our contractors and suppliers."

The contract talks are making progress, said Michael Mahdesian, chairman of Servicon Systems Inc., a Culver City janitorial service, and one of several contractors involved in the contract negotiations.

"We feel both sides are bargaining in earnest and we're working long hours," Mahdesian said.

Mahdesian said the current negotiations are going much smoother than three years ago.

"Three years ago, there were several sides that were being run by nonunion contractors," Mahdesian said. "And so the union I think had more at stake in trying to organize those sides and bring those companies to the bargaining table. And they did succeed in that."

Thursday's rally was punctuated by chants of "Si se puede," Spanish for "We can do it." One protester jabbed a mop into the air to the rhythm of the chants.

Jose Umana, 60, a janitor who has worked for 11 years at a Boeing facility in El Segundo, was among the protesters.

"We're just asking for the basics that families need," Umana said.