In negotiating the terms of a new contact with the company 's largest union, Verizon Communications executives are looking to cut costs in order to stay competitive. Union officials want the company to stop blocking unionization efforts at Verizon Wireless, which is controlled by Verizon Communications. The union has threatened to stage a walkout in August if Verizon executives do not take steps to unionize the workers at Verizon Wireless. The company maintains that unionizing Verizon Wireless should be kept a separate issue, as those workers are already under a contract.
See "Union and Verizon at Odds on Focus of Talks", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, June 29, 2003