More than 440 editorial, advertising and circulation workers at the Globe and Mail have rejected the newspaper's latest offer, though it appears both sides will return to the bargaining table.

On Saturday, union members voted 89 per cent against a revised contract offer that was emailed to them on Friday — just days ahead of a midnight strike deadline set for Tuesday.

Of the 292 ballots cast by union members at a Toronto hotel and other bureau locations, 260 voted against the offer.

Only hours after Saturday's vote, management contacted the union and signalled their intentions to resume talks.

"It's a positive sign that they want to come back and talk, and hopefully that means they're prepared to make some compromises," said Brad Honywill, president of Local 87-M of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, which represents employees at the Toronto-based daily.

The newspaper proposed a five-year contract, instead of its previous proposal of a six-year deal.

Its revised proposal also offered to allow current employees to stay on a defined benefit pension plan, in which employees are guaranteed a set income at retirement, instead of moving them to a defined contribution plan, in which the amount they get depends on how much is in the plan when they retire.

New employees, however, would be booked into the defined contribution plan.

Globe publisher and CEO Phillip Crawley could not be reached for comment on Saturday, but said Friday the company had no plans to lock out its employees.

Honywill said workers recognize it's a difficult year for newspapers and said they are willing to be flexible by making concessions such as accepting a wage freeze.

The rejected offer maintained previously proposed annual wage increases of zero per cent in 2009 and 2010, 1.5 per cent in 2011, two per cent in 2012 and 2.5 per cent in 2013.

Members are still looking for improvements in the pension scheme, job security and are against "significant salary cuts" proposed for a number of job classifications, Honywill added.

Advertising revenue has fallen steadily for the Globe in recent quarters, similar to many other major Canadian media outlets. The company said that in May, its ad revenue fell 28 per cent over the same time a year earlier.

With files from The Canadian Press