A labor union is being pulled in as a defendant in a class-action age discrimination suit brought bysome of its own members over a 1993 round of layoffs at the Great Neck,N.Y., headquarters of Unisys Corp.

In a case of first impressionin the Second Circuit, Eastern District Judge Arthur D. Spatt said lastweek that a labor union may be responsible for age discrimination whenthe employer carries out a discriminatory policy included in a negotiatedcontract.