The leaders of Verizon Communication’s two major unions announced Monday they intend to strike Wednesday morning if they cannot negotiate a new contract with the company by that time.

Verizon claims it has 36,000 union workers, although the unions say the number is 39,000, from Massachusetts to Virginia. That included about 1,000 in the Capital Region. The strike would be effective at 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Verizon’s last strike was in 2011 during the previous contract negotiations. That strike ended after two weeks.

The unions, the largest being the CWA and IBEW, began contract talks with Verizon in June 2015, although the unions decided not to strike previously. That stance has now changed, union leaders said Monday in a conference call.

“Verizon has forced us here, and there is no where else for us to go,” said Christopher Shelton, president of CWA.

Union officials said they had face-to-face negotiations on Thursday with Verizon, but the two sides remain “very far apart” on reaching an agreement. They could meet again this week before the strike deadline.

“We’ve tried to work with union leaders to reach a deal,” Marc Reed, Verizon’s chief administrative officer said in a statement. “Verizon has been moving the bargaining process forward, but now union leaders would rather make strike threats than constructively engage at the bargaining table.”

A strike by the unions could impact repair and installation orders for Verizon’s telephone and FiOS cable TV and internet services. However Verizon says it has been training non-union employees to do “virtually” every union job function.

“We do not take strike threats lightly,” Bob Mudge, president of Verizon’s wireline network operations said in a statement. “For more than a year, we’ve been preparing in the event union leaders order our employees to walk off the job. If a strike takes place, whether it’s one day, two weeks or longer, we are ready.”

Union reps and Verizon workers claimed Monday that Verizon wants the ability under a new contract to send technicians out of state for jobs for months at a time.

Issac Collazo, a Verizon technician in New York City, says he fears being sent out of town with two sons at home, including a precocious 12 year old.

“If Verizon sent me out of town for two months, I really don’t how I would take care of him,” Collazo said. “They want to force us to make this impossible choice.”