<HTML> Nathan: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">  One result of this decision is that we are likely to see a rash of lawsuits  against public employees unions, since they will be left as the only somewhat deep pocket to sue.  Somewhat anticipating this decision this past summer when I was researching a different ADA issue effecting unions, its pretty clear under the law that disabled workers can sue unions for failure to negotiate equal access under the ADA.  The interesting question is going to be how the courts deal with state employers who refuse to implement such proposals by the public employee unions.  How hard will the unions have to push for those changes to avoid financial liability themselves?</BLOCKQUOTE> I can't imagine any public employee union which would object to ADA equal access, except perhaps police, prison guard or fire unions, and then only in respect to job qualification issues. The real problem will be if the state and local governments attempt to use it as a point of leverage in collective bargaining, demanding that the unions "give back" something in return for accepting ADA equal access. I don't see public employee unions agreeing to do that. Certainly if there is a legal compulsion to enact ADA equal access, it would have to fall on both parties in collective bargaining. Leo Casey United Federation of Teachers 260 Park Avenue South New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869) Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and it never will. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. -- Frederick Douglass -- </HTML>