MIAMI -- Several South Florida politicians are supporting a strike by University of Miami janitors who they say are among the most poorly paid employees in the county.

The University of Miami is Miami-Dade County's largest single employer. In January, UM announced that it had made history by becoming the first school in Florida to raise $1 billion from private donors in a single fundraising drive. But university janitors and their supporters say that none of that wealth is being passed onto them, and they are being forced to live at poverty level.

In a release, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party said, "The university's policies have actually increased Miami-Dade's poverty rate. In an already poor city, janitors at the University of Miami are some of the poorest, earning as little as $13,104 a year, less than half the county median. Wages are low, and benefits almost nonexistent for campus janitors, because cleaning contractors have to bid the work."

According to the release, janitors at UM earn as little as $6.40 an hour without employer-paid health insurance.

Workers are on strike to add pressure to their complaints against Boston-based UNICCO Service Co., which employs UM's maintenance crew.

According to the Service Employees International Union, UM janitors, most of whom are immigrants from Cuba, Haiti and South America, earn some of the lowest wages for campus janitors in the United States. The SEIU said that unionized janitors who work for UNICCO in other cities earn higher wages and are provided health insurance. For example, SEIU cites Harvard University in Boston, where UNICCO janitors earn between $13 and $14 an hour and have fully paid health insurance.

Some of those who attended a news conference in support of the strike were State Sen. Frederica Wilson, State Rep.Yolly Roberson, State Rep. Philip Brutus and newly re-elected South Miami Mayor Horace Feliu.

On Feb. 23, university President Donna Shalala issued a statement saying that she was establishing a group to conduct a review of compensation and benefits of contract employees. The group is expected to report to Shalala within a month.