[naviga:h3]Verizon workers vote to go on strike[/naviga:h3]

NEW YORK — Verizon workers in nine states have voted to go on strike if necessary over a dispute about a new contract, a union official said at a rally Saturday.

“Our members are clear and they are determined,” said Dennis Trainor, an official with the Communications Workers of America union. “They reject management’s harsh concessionary demands.”

At the rally in New York, the CWA announced that 86 percent of Verizon workers who voted in a recent poll backed strike action if required. A contract that covers 39,000 workers represented by the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers expires at midnight Saturday.

The contract covers employees in nine states from Massachusetts to Virginia who work for Verizon’s wireline business, which provides fixed-line phone services and FiOS Internet service.

The unions say the telecom giant is demanding that workers sharply increase their health care contributions and make concessions on pensions.

[naviga:h3]Gas price drops 1 cent in 2 weeks[/naviga:h3]

CAMARILLO, Calif. — The average price of gasoline has dropped a penny over the past two weeks to $2.82 a gallon.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday the current average sits 76 cents below the year-ago price.

The cheapest price recorded in the continental United States was $2.33 a gallon in Birmingham, Alabama.

The highest was $4.13 a gallon in Los Angeles.