Verizon workers have made good on their strike threat.

About 39,000 workers, some on Long Island and in several other states, walked off the job at 6 a.m. Wednesday. It follows months of stalled contract negotiations. The workers' contracts expired in August, and talks broke off last week.

Those landline and cable workers come from two unions striking along the eastern U.S.

Unions say that Verizon wants to freeze pensions, make layoffs easier and send their jobs across the country and overseas.

Verizon says claims of sending jobs overseas are "absolute nonsense." The company says it will go to mediation, but claims the unions called a strike instead of extending the deadline.