Union spokesman Yvan Berthelot speaks to reporters outside La Presse in September. (CBC)

Distribution workers at Montreal broadsheet La Presse voted Monday night to accept an agreement with the paper's management. They were the last group of workers at the French daily to reach a deal.

The deal includes cost-cutting measures such as the introduction of a five-day work week, less vacation, a salary freeze and cuts to the pension plan.

Management at the 125-year-old daily, North America's biggest French-language newspaper, had been threatening to shut down the paper and its website if an agreement was not reached by Dec. 1.

La Presse announced on Nov. 20 it had reached a tentative deal with editorial and office employees.

Union officials said they had made a variety of concessions in those cases, including ending their four-day work week and replacing it with a standard five-day week. There are also changes to insurance benefits, the retirement plan and the holiday schedule. La Presse employees will not see their salaries reduced.

The paper announced in October it had reached an agreement with four other unions, representing one-third of its employees.

The newspaper has suffered financially this year, like other media outlets slammed by collapsing advertising revenues brought on by the global recession.

In June, La Presse ceased publishing on Sundays to reduce production costs.

At the time, publisher Guy Crevier said he hoped to reduce overall costs by $26 million.

La Presse would not survive without a variety of concessions, Crevier had said.

The daily employs about 700 people represented by eight different unions, including about 240 who are part of the editorial union Syndicat des travailleurs de l'information de La Presse (STIP).

It is owned by Gesca Ltée., a wholly owned division of Power Corp.

With files from The Canadian Press