OTTAWA, May 20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The union representing 55,000 Canada Post workers on Monday gave a strike notice that could see the nation's financially precarious postal service shut down by the week's end.

This would be its second labor disruption in six months.

The announcement comes after contract talks broke down and a government-appointed commission concluded last week that dramatic changes were required to save the "bankrupt" postal service.

Canada Post said it received the strike notice from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) indicating workers would walk off the job at 12 a.m. local time on Friday.

It warned that a strike would "deepen the company's already serious financial situation" after recording more than Canadian $3 billion (US$2.2 billion) in losses since 2018 and requiring a Canadian $1 billion bailout at the start of this year.

The government in December had called "a time out" in a previous weeks-long strike ahead of the busy holiday shopping season after the two sides reached an impasse.

It also tasked an industrial inquiry commission to recommend ways of breaking the deadlock while preserving Canada Post as a "vital national institution."

On Friday, the commission in a report urged a phasing out of daily door-to-door letter mail delivery and the hiring of part-time employees to deliver parcels on the weekend, among its recommendations.

Commissioner William Kaplan said Canada Post "is facing an existential crisis (and) is effectively insolvent or bankrupt," while accusing the union of "defending business as usual."

"Without thoughtful, measured, staged, but immediate changes, its fiscal situation will continue to deteriorate," he wrote in the report.

CUPW rejected "the bulk of the recommendations," saying they are heavily skewed in favor of Canada Post's positions and amounted to "service cuts, contracting out, and major rollbacks to important provisions in our existing collective agreements."

The union also said there was no guarantee the proposed changes would increase Canada Post's parcel business, as it faces strong competition from private couriers.