Due to declining business and and an unmet collective agreement, Canada Post has served it's employees with a 72 hour lockout notice.

The notice could mean that mail services could come to a halt as of Friday, July 8.

Canada Post said in a media release that nearly all of their large e-commerce customers have already moved most or all of their parcel volumes to other carriers, resulting in a volume decline of at least 75 per cent from these customers.

Letter mail is down by as much as 50 per cent in many facilities, due to half the volume of mail being deposited by commercial customers.

With the uncertainty of a strike and the loss of revenue, Canada Post is responding with a 72 hour notice to the union of a change in terms and conditions of employment for all employees represented by the union starting Friday.

As of Friday, the terms and conditions of the current collective agreements will no longer apply.

Under the new terms and conditions employees will still be entitled to their regular pay with the reduction in health benefits, while other items will be cancelled in line with the statutory minimum conditions established under the Canada Labour Code.

On July 4, Canada Post also notified the union that the offer presented on July 25, is the final offer and that the union’s more than $1 billion in demands were unaffordable and therefore rejected.