After hearing that Verizon's union contract is up for negotiations in August, I did a quick Google on "Verizon Union Contract", which brought the link below, among others. Potential problems ahead?

https://labornotes.org/node/1552

Sounds pretty typical at contract time to me.

I sure hope your right, justbill. I'm going to be placing a lot of orders with Verizon around that time and I'd hate to think how long they may take if Verizon is short-staffed. I read one article where the union employees were holding "practice" pickets, so I'm a little worried. Hopefully unjustifiably so.

It's not unusual for both sides to flex their muscles and try to win public opinion to their side. It's what happens at the table that matters. Of course there is no way to predict the outcome, but I see nothing in that article that's any better or worse than other pre-bargaining news articles.