Members of Local 2204 of the Communications Workers of America staged a one-day "informational picket" outside Verizon facilities in downtown Roanoke and on Airport Road in Roanoke County.

The union, which represents almost 1,200 people from Roanoke and Martinsville down to Bristol, Tenn., is preparing to begin contract negotiations; its current agreement with Verizon expires in August 2008.

The CWA asserts that although Verizon itself is a union shop, workers in the Verizon Business and Verizon Wireless units are not allowed to unionize.

"They've built a wall around those two businesses," said Chris Criscione, a union representative for the CWA. "They've prevented us from organizing there."

Spokespeople from Verizon strongly disagreed.

"The union has the right to try to organize employees," said Verizon's Harry Mitchell. "Whether to become represented by a union is a matter of choice for employees."

"Our employees absolutely have the right to elect to be represented by the union, and they are solicited on a regular basis by members of the CWA," said Verizon Wireless spokesman John Johnson. "They were leafleting outside my office yesterday."

Leafleting at corporate offices is one thing, said Chuck Simpson, Roanoke-area vice president for Local 2204, but on the front lines -- at the local Verizon Wireless stores -- things aren't so hunky-dory.

When members of Local 2204 attempted to give information to employees at the Verizon Wireless store formerly at Towne Square Shopping Center, Simpson said they ran into trouble.

"We were asked to leave," Simpson said, "Verizon Wireless didn't ask us to do it; they had the [landlord] ask us to move." And, he said, "When we attempted to hand information to their employees who were entering the store, the employees did not acknowledge us. We have been told that the employees were told not to acknowledge us."

But Johnson categorically denied that. "No one bothered them, no one asked them to move or leave," he said. "But at least one of them came into the store with a big sandwich sign with some disparaging comments about Verizon Wireless," and he was asked to remove the sign.

As to employees not acknowledging CWA leafleteers, Johnson pointed out that workers at the Towne Square store did not use the front entrance, but entered through a secure rear door.

"We do not tell employees not to take union literature," he said. "In fact, I would encourage them to do so to get all the facts."

Some of those assertions are in dispute, however.

According to Criscione, "Those nonunion workers are not enjoying the same level of pay or the same benefits or pensions."

But a document provided by Verizon Wireless to The Roanoke Times showed that, in fact, Verizon Wireless workers were earning significantly more than their Cingular counterparts. Workers in Verizon Wireless stores earn an annual base salary of $18,500 to $42,000, while at Cingular the same job tops out at less than $28,000.

"I'm not going to argue that Cingular workers make much more than Verizon Wireless workers," said Jimmy Tarlau, staff representative for the CWA. The bigger issue for him is what the unionized Verizon workers get compared with nonunion Verizon Wireless employees.

For similar jobs, he said, "the people who work for the land-line company are making 40 percent more than the people who work at the wireless company." One example he offered: "A customer service rep for the land-line company makes $46,000 a year."

Johnson didn't agree with the reasoning. "I think it's most fair to compare ... Verizon Wireless wages and benefits to our closest competitor," he said. "You've got to compare apples to apples."

According to Verizon Wireless records, senior customer service representatives earn between $27,500 and $50,000 per year. And according to Johnson, that doesn't include annual performance incentives that are based on how well the company does.

That in mind, Johnson said, "I would argue that we are competitive with the land-line business."

Tarlau countered that union employees had better job security and grievance procedures, but maintained that the biggest issue was choice.

As Criscione put it, "Let those employees for Verizon Business and Verizon Wireless at least have the option" to join the union.

Johnson didn't disagree. "It is our employees' right to choose to be represented by a union if that is their wish," he said. "Verizon Wireless would never do anything to interfere with that."

But, he added, "Why would they choose to be represented by a group that could not get for its members as good a deal as our employees already have without union representation? It's a matter of what our employees have chosen, and our employees have chosen no representation by the CWA."