Verizon sees little progress in talks with wireline workers

(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc , the largest U.S. wireless service provider, said on Friday there was little progress in negotiations with its wireline unit workers on the U.S. East Coast, ahead of the expiry of the current contracts on Aug. 1. Employees of the wireline business represented by trade unions Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) last week voted to go on strike, if needed. Verizon said on Friday it is ready in the event of a work stoppage. The company's wireline business includes FiOS Internet, telephone and TV services. "We're very far apart in negotiations because Verizon a very profitable company is insisting on outrageous demands for kickbacks on just about every important issue," Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the CWA, said. Verizon's plans to cut costs by controlling healthcare and pension-related benefits over a three-year period are at the centre of union negotiations. The company on Friday asked the unions to work with it to make changes to its healthcare and pension benefits, ones that it says would help compete better in the market. Verizon said in June it offered salary hikes to 38,000 employees in its East wireline business after its first negotiating session with representatives of the two unions. The company said on Friday union leaders responded to its June offer with a series of proposals that did "virtually nothing" for the progress of negotiations. (Reporting by Anya George Tharakan, Devika Krishna Kumar in Bengaluru and Malathi Nayak in New York; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)