The management of The New York Times Co.-owned Boston Globe and the 600 employees-strong Boston Newspaper Guild are engaged in high-stakes negotiations, with the 137-year-old newspaper seeking $20 million in concessions from its unions and the Guild to keep afloat amid the downturn.

The New York Times has threatened to bring the shutters down on newspaper - which faces an $85 million loss this year, without notable paper cost reduction - in case its demand for concessions is not met with. In a statement, The Boston Globe spokesman, Robert Powers, said that the deadline for reaching the critical concessions-related agreements with the company's unions and the guild has been extended till the midnight of May 3.

The threat of closure has prompted an outpouring of support from avid readers of the paper - including Massachusetts Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry -, who urged the NY Times' Chairman Arthur Sulzberger to find an amicable way out for keeping the paper alive.

Elaborating on the negotiations that carried on late into the night, the guild's president Daniel Totten said: "We have given the New York Times Company and Globe management proposals for deep cuts to our members' pay and benefits that we believe will save The Boston Globe. We are working diligently and hopeful for a positive outcome."