However the big surprise came when Massillon backer Jack Donahue refused to go along with a proposal to limit salaries.

But for the custodians, unlike the other workers, there would be a cap limiting high-end salaries to the 1991 level of $76,859 rather than the nearly $84,000 they could have received under the two citywide agreements, officials said.

The owners voted unanimously yesterday to approve the collective bargaining agreement, which will limit salaries to a fluctuating range based on revenue.

They also would like to limit individual salaries so that one or two players do not gobble up all the money on a roster.

The suit accuses the league owners of conspiring to illegally limit the players' rights and salaries and restrict the ability of players to offer their services to competing employers.

And it deprives the city's supermarkets, bodegas and greenmarkets of a huge source of income, limiting the size and salaries of their work forces.

One of the goals is to cut expenses by limiting the number and salaries of senior staff members.

The owners insisted on a salary cap, changes to free agency and arbitration in the hopes of limiting escalating salaries, the union instead proposed a luxury tax system.

But the owners are still trying to limit high-end salaries.

Referring to the proposal the players presented earlier that day, O'Connor wrote that "your latest tax plan would do nothing to limit or restrain salaries."