Countdown to possible work stoppage at Canada Post is on

The countdown to a possible lockout or strike by tens of thousands of Canada Post employees is on.

Wednesday morning, the corporation officially rejected a letter from postal workers asking them to extend the deadline for a lockout by two weeks. If no agreement is reached soon, there could be a shutdown of services at Canada Post.

READ MORE: Mail disruptions loom as Canada Post turns down union’s request for extension

“We want to avoid the work disruption. No body wins in a work disruption. Canadians would be impacted, our customers would be impacted,” said Jon Hamilton, spokesperson for Canada Post.

On Saturday July 2, the collective agreement for 50,000 postal workers will be void. At that point, the company will be in a legal position to lock employees out and workers will be in a legal position to walk off the job.

“It’s not our intent to go on strike at this point in time,” said Tony Rogers, President of Nova Local, Canadian Union of Postal Workers or CUPW.

“Canada Post, if they lock us out, we assume we will be locked out from St. John’s [N.L.] to Victoria [B.C.]. I’ve never seen a partial lockout in all the years I’ve been there. If Canada Post decides to lock us out, that will be for postal service in Canada until some sort of resolve is achieved,” Rogers tells Global News.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Canada Post, if they lock us out, we assume we will be locked out from St. John's [N.L.] to Victoria [B.C.]. I've never seen a partial lockout in all the years I've been there. If Canada Post decides to lock us out, that will be for postal service in Canada until some sort of resolve is achieved," Rogers tells Global News.

The company says they have no plans for a lockout.

“We are trying to do everything possible to avoid a work disruption,” Hamilton said.

“We tabled offers with CUPW over the weekend that are fair and reasonable, and what I mean by that is protecting things that are most important to our employees, their pension and job security as well as a number of things but it’s the pension and job security that mean the most to our employees.”

READ MORE: Union: Canada Post’s last-ditch effort to avoid strike is ‘inadequate’

The union says there are more issues than pension and job security. Wage equity is another big concern.

Rural employees, which are 70 per cent female, get paid on average 28 per cent less than urban workers, which are predominantly male.

“When people say rural everyone gets the impression its still the way it always was, that rural routers may be driving down a dirt road maybe out in the country somewhere,” said Rogers.

“Part of our rural bargaining unit delivers the mail to Bayers Lake, delivers the mail to the top of Clayton Park West and delivers the mail in Dartmouth Crossing, so its hardly rural anymore.”

Both sides say they are still hoping a deal can be reached before a work stoppage happens. The public is hoping the same thing.

“It’s not good. We need those guys … we need the delivery at our place,” said Renaud LaPierre.

“I think the letter carriers have to think that they’ve got a pretty good deal,” said Don Smith. “Fewer people are mailing everyday, I think if they holdout, they’ll be forced and the bigger mailboxes will come out and they won’t have jobs.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I think the letter carriers have to think that they've got a pretty good deal," said Don Smith. "Fewer people are mailing everyday, I think if they holdout, they'll be forced and the bigger mailboxes will come out and they won't have jobs."

WATCH: Governments, online retailers prepare as Canada Post work stoppage looms

In the event that there is a work stoppage, the union says volunteers will continue to deliver social assistance and pension cheques twice a month. They tell Global News they have also reached an agreement with Canada Post to ensure no animals will be left inside postal buildings if they are locked out.

The New Brunswick Government has issued a news release strongly recommending that vendors and suppliers who deal with the provincial government sign up for direct deposit to receive their payments as soon as possible.

In Nova Scotia, the Department of Community Services is also encouraging people to sign up for direct deposit. A spokesperson says they have mailed some cheques early and will manually sort and distribute social assistance cheques through provincial offices.

The last time there was a work stoppage at Canada Post was in 2011.