HALIFAX -- Canada's largest independently owned daily newspaper, the Halifax Chronicle Herald, is bracing for a work stoppage in less than two weeks.

Management filed a notice Monday that gives the company the option to lock out its newsroom staff with 48 hours notice -- a pre-emptive legal move that doesn't necessarily mean a lockout will happen.

Two days have been set aside for last-ditch, conciliated talks next week, but a union spokesman said there's only a slim chance of averting a legal lockout on Jan. 23 at 12:01 a.m.

Francis Campbell, vice-president with the Halifax Typographical Union, says 61 unionized workers in the newsroom will be in a legal position to strike that day, but none of them intends to walk off the job.

Instead, Campbell said the 140-year-old company has made it clear it is getting ready to lock out the employees to press its proposals to reduce wages, lengthen working hours, shrink future pension benefits and lay off up to 18 workers.

Mark Lever, CEO of The Halifax Herald Ltd., could not be reached for comment.

However, the company released a statement Friday saying that even with the proposed reductions, the Herald would remain the largest media company in Atlantic Canada, with wages and benefits that surpass other outlets.

Nancy Cook, the Herald's vice-president of administration, said the newspaper must cut costs to remain competitive.

"There is no denying that we are in a challenging business," Cook said in the statement. "The company's proposals come from contracts the union representing the Herald newsroom has already agreed to at other media companies."

The union's opening proposal was a 7.5 per cent wage increase over three years. Campbell said the union was willing to negotiate but it never got the chance.

Just over 300 people work at the daily.

Prior to an initial round of layoffs in 2009, the Herald's newsroom included just over 100 unionized employees, said Campbell, the paper's Truro bureau chief. The proposed layoffs would reduce the newsroom to less than half its size seven years ago.

"I think the company will lock us out," Campbell said in an interview. "I think that's been their agenda since we started bargaining."

The bargaining unit includes reporters, editors, photographers, editorial writers, columnists, page technicians and support staff.

Like most newspapers in North America, the Herald is facing financial challenges amid shrinking advertising revenue, but Campbell said the company wants to impose too many cost-cutting measures too quickly.

"We were told by the company negotiator that they should have been doing some of this stuff all along, and now they're trying to catch up," he said.

Kelly Toughill, director of the journalism school at the University of King's College in Halifax, said management must do something to cope with shrinking ad revenue, but it appears to be taking aim at cost cutting on too many fronts.

However, Toughill said it's important to remember that as a private company, the Herald does not release its financial results, which means gauging its health is impossible.

"I don't think this community is being particularly well served by what they're doing right now. But I don't know the motivation behind what they're doing, so I can't say whether that's reasonable or not."

The company's proposal to cut wages and extend working hours from 35 to 40 hours a week will result in a 17 per cent reduction in newsroom pay, Campbell said.

As well, he said the company has a plan to lay off desk editors and replace them with non-unionized workers who will focus on laying out pages.

"Their jobs would be outsourced, possibly within the company, to its non-unionized advertorial department, for a fraction of the pay and benefits," the union said in a statement.

As for pensions, Campbell says the company has indicated it wants to do away with the existing defined-benefit plan.

The union also says the Herald is expanding its advertorial and paid-content products, run by the advertising department.

"As we face more deep cuts to the newsroom, we feel very strongly that the company is leading us toward irrelevance: Less depth, less journalism, fewer compelling stories, more rewrites of news releases and more sponsored content," Ingrid Bulmer, president of the union local at the Herald, said in a statement.