Verizon Workers Threaten to Strike on Plan for ‘Gutting Health Care’

Lowell McAdam, who just started as chief executive officer at Verizon Communications, is facing the possibility of a strike by thousands of repairmen, service workers and phone operators his first week on the job.

The company is negotiating with more than 45,000 workers at two unions over the terms of a contract to replace one that expires at midnight Aug. 6. Among the issues to be resolved, health care has the company and unions most sharply divided. Verizon wants workers to contribute more for health benefits, including beginning to pay monthly premiums for the first time, while the unions say their members can't accept the financial burden given the current economy. “The company is insisting on gutting health care,” Bob Master, a legislative and political director for the Communications Workers of America, said. “I have never seen bargaining this unproductive in 25 years.” Richard Young, a spokesman for Verizon, said the company is only asking that union workers contribute upfront for health care like other employees do. The changes are necessary to keep the country’s second-largest phone company competitive, he said.