Facing Call for Concessions, Verizon Workers Vote to Authorize Strike

Verizon Communications is seeking major concessions from 45,000 unionized workers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, as it copes with a long-term drop in revenue and profits in its old-fashioned telephone business and intense competition in television and Internet services. But the union leaders are resisting any suggestion of givebacks, saying the overall company is making plenty of money.

The company earned $6.9 billion in net income for the first six months of this year, amid strong growth in its majority-owned Verizon Wireless cellphone operation. And Verizon’s hefty investment in its FiOS TV and Internet services is starting to pay off. The battle lines between the sides were drawn more sharply, when the Communication Workers of America announced that in balloting by 35,000 of its members at Verizon, 91 percent had authorized their leaders to call a strike as soon as Aug. 7, after the contract expires. Verizon and union officials agree that the company’s demands are far more sweeping than in previous years. Verizon says it is pushing hard for flexibility and to hold down costs because its wireline business — which, unlike its wireless operation, is heavily unionized — faces such intense competition, much of it nonunion.