Verizon Communications Inc.'s largest union says the company is refusing to fix broken landlines.

The Communications Workers of America, which represents about 35,000 Verizon employees, says Verizon isn't repairing copper lines in some areas in the Northeast. Instead, the union says, the carrier is steering customers to buy a wireless home phone service called Voice Link.

The CWA plans to file public information requests this week with a handful of state regulators including in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to see whether it can uncover data showing the extent of the problems.

 Verizon is required to report information about service issues to local regulators, but the union says not all of that information is likely being disclosed to the public.

 "Verizon is systematically abandoning the legacy network and as a consequence the quality of service for millions of phone customers has plummeted," said Bob Master, CWA's political director for the union's northeastern region.

The dispute comes as Verizon and the union are about to enter negotiations later this month for a new contract.

Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the CWA's allegations are aimed at pressuring the carrier in advance of those talks and he denied the union's claims. "It's pure nonsense to say we're abandoning our copper networks," Mr. Young said.

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