Union workers at Toronto newspaper the Globe and Mail have voted in near unanimous favour, with 300 votes to 11, to authorise the union to declare a strike, should ongoing contract negotiations prove unsuccessful, Reuters reported Sunday.

On Saturday, 97 percent of the circulation and sales staff voted in support of the decision to strike, according to Brad Honywill, the president of the Local 87-M of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union.

The current contract with the union finishes on June 30. There is potential for a strike or lockout at the paper as soon as the contract expires. Managers of the newspaper offered a new contract proposal Monday, which the union will bring to members for another vote, "if it makes a significant improvement over the previous offer," Honywill said, according to Reuters.

The Globe and Mail is owned by CTVglobemedia, a privately held media company. In January it announced a planned 80 job cuts.