Union leader William Huber on the front lines of contract talks with Verizon

Not too long ago, union leader William Huber was spending his days in a Verizon company truck, a technician on the road fixing phone and fiber-optic problems.

Back then it was a matter of repairs, or installation, or even, sometimes, persuading a customer to stay with Verizon instead of switching to cable, the archenemy.

These days, Huber has an even bigger job. Instead of climbing into a company truck, he pushes open the door of the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel in Center City, heading to another day of intense contract bargaining with Verizon Inc.

At stake?

The jobs and compensation of 45,000 technicians, customer-service agents, and office staff in eastern states from New England to West Virginia. Huber's union, Local 827 of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, represents about 5,000 of them, mostly in New Jersey.

The IBEW is jointly bargaining with the Communication Workers of America, which represents most Verizon East Coast employees. Their contracts expire Aug. 6. The talks, which began June 22, couldn't have come at a trickier time for Verizon.

One in four households has already entirely switched to mobile phones, abandoning their landlines, yet telecom companies such as Verizon have huge investments in their "wired" infrastructure. Competition from cable is intense - each side vying to deliver phone, video, and Internet service to homes and businesses.

The number of Verizon retirees, each hoping for pension increases, is expanding.

But employment on the wired side of the business, which supports the pensions, is down - from 173,000 in 2005 to 92,000 in 2010.

Meanwhile, national employment in Verizon's nonunion wireless company, Verizon Wireless, has expanded by 24,000 to 79,000, growing along with its revenues.

The IBEW and CWA represent "wired" workers - employees who work on the part of the business built on copper and fiber-optic wires.

The issues are familiar - Verizon wants workers to contribute more to health-care coverage and to bend more on rules that might shift jobs away from union ranks. Subcontracting for certain technician work is also an issue.

"The biggest challenge is that we are in an entirely competitive marketplace," said company spokesman Richard Young. "Our wire-line business has declined over the past couple years. We're asking [the unions] to take a serious look at where the business stands and come up with a plan that will enable all of us to be successful."