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To: long-gone who wrote (38876)	8/12/1999 3:36:00 PM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

CBOT Shut down early because of power outage ... POWER OUTAGE HITS DOWNTOWN CHICAGO Going on now. The third major power outage this week for Commonwealth Edison was expanding early this afternoon and ComEd officials said it could last up to 22 hours ... chicagotribune.com chicagotribune.com CNBC announced about an hour ago that Chicago Board of Trade shut down early (at 2) because of power outages. Attributed pressure on bonds to this shut-down. Went into more detail on how it affects markets and futures trading. Maybe they'll explain more later today. Market started to reverse and do down immediately upon announcement. DOW had been over 100, and fell to around 50. NASDAQ went from 20+ to skirting red. Wonder how market would be affected if CBOT's not open tomorrow - Friday 13th?? Cheryl P.S. Guess who's gonna be most prepared for this power outage??? LOL - Those who've been preparing for Y2K!!

To: long-gone who wrote (38876)	8/12/1999 8:28:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116764

FOCUS-Strike looms over S.Africa gold, coal mines 01:14 p.m Aug 12, 1999 Eastern By Darren Schuettler JOHANNESBURG, Aug 12 (Reuters) - South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday its members would down tools at the country's gold and coal mines on Tuesday if a new wage agreement was not reached. NUM spokesman George Molebatsi said the union had given the industry's Chamber of Mines two working days' notice of its intention to call a strike. ''A notice has been given to the chamber for a strike to start on Tuesday, August 17,'' Molebatsi told Reuters. The strike threat comes as South Africa's gold industry is facing mine closures and thousands of job losses due to record low gold prices after Britain announced plans in May to sell more than half its gold reserves. Gold has enjoyed a modest rally in recent days, trading above $260 on Thursday, but it is still nearly $30 below its level when contract talks began in May. ''The companies are basically pleading poverty, especially on the wage issue,'' Molebatsi said. The NUM had settled with only two chamber members, AngloGold Ltd and coal producer Duiker Ltd. AngloGold, the world's biggest gold producer, said on Monday it had reached a two-year wage deal that would give its lowest category workers a 10 percent increase in each year of the agreement. Other workers would receive a nine percent increase over the same period. The NUM and three other smaller unions represent about 200,000 unionised mineworkers. The chamber includes most of the gold and coal companies involved in talks to replace the previous two-year deal which expired on July 1. That agreement brought relative peace to an industry with a long history of bitter labour relations. Frans Barker, head of industrial relations for the chamber, said the NUM had rejected offers from other gold companies and negotiations in the coal industry were also at an impasse. The chamber had offered an average eight percent wage increase for gold miners, while coal workers were offered an average seven percent increase. The NUM was seeking a nine percent wage increase for both coal and gold miners. The country's last major gold strike was in 1987 when most mines were paralysed for weeks until 40,000 workers were fired to break the dispute. At their peak, the gold mines employed 530,000 miners in 1987 and gold exports accounted for 50 percent of South Africa's foreign exchange earnings in the 1980s. A steady decline in the gold price since the late 1980s forced an industry-wide restructuring which has trimmed the workforce to 250,000 today. Gold may not play the dominant role it once did in South Africa's economy, but it is still the biggest source of foreign exchange, accounting for 17 percent of total merchandise exports in 1998. Copyright 1999 Reuters