Verizon Workers Threaten To Strike

Thousands of Verizon land line and cable workers could be on strike by Wednesday.

The unions representing nearly 36,000 Verizon workers has threatened to strike starting Wednesday morning if the company doesn't agree to a new contract.

According to NBC 10, the old contract expired in August and negotiations since then have been unsuccessful.

The threatened strike by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unions is because Verizon reportedly wants to freeze pensions, make layoffs easier and rely on more contract workers.

The company says they just want to address health care issues for retirees and workers with growing medical costs and they want "more flexibility" in managing employees.

Verizon has trained thousands of non-union employees in the event of a strike on the East Coast and Washington D.C.

The Verizon unions last strike was in 2011 and last two weeks.