WASHINGTON – Amid labor negotiations with some 38,000 union employees, Verizon Communications is prepping for a potential work stoppage by training more than 15,000 nonunion employees to take over in the event of a strike.

Verizon is working on a three-year contract with representatives from the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Verizon spokesman Richard Young told RCR Wireless News, “Verizon is in the process of training more than 15,000 nonunion company employees to provide backfill and to ensure the continuation of services, in the event of a work stoppage by the unions. These employees are receiving training in various customer service functions, repair and maintenance and in other areas. We need to ensure that any dispute between our company and the unions does not impact our customers.”

Bob Master, legislative and political director for CWA District One, said this is a typical bargaining tactic.

“This is nothing new. We prepare to do whatever is necessary to win a good contract, management responds,” Master said. “But rather than focus on strike preparations, the company should be focusing on bargaining constructively to reach a fair contract that protects workers’ job security and standard of living, and ensures that all the customers in Verizon’s footprint are guaranteed access to state of the art fiber optic broadband services.”

When CWA and IBEW last called a strike in 2011, it led to 45,000 Verizon workers walking off the job. The two-week strike that followed was painful to both the company and union members. Verizon’s stock fell 2% on the first day of the strike and many employees went the entire strike without pay. Eventually both sides reached a compromise.

Despite the potential disruption caused by a strike, Young made it abundantly clear that Verizon is not anti-union.

“Verizon recognizes and respects the right of workers to unionize and engage in collective bargaining,”Young said. “We have a long history of working successfully with the CWA and IBEW, and we expect that to happen this time as well. However, keep in mind, we provide critical communications services of millions of consumers and businesses, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Even while we’re engaged in the bargaining process, we must still take appropriate measures that make certain our customers are not affected by any disruption in usual business activities.”