Mr. Packer's takeover vehicle, the Television Corporation of Australia, said the expiration of an agreement to finance the takeover had caused Mr. Packer to drop the hostile bid.

"It shouldn't take a rally of thousands of teachers after the expiration of a contract for any employee to put its demands on the table."

Defunct (or expiration of a contract):

June 1 seems like an odd date for the expiration of a contract, since the league has been creeping toward its eventual destiny with Independence Day.

The company also was adversely affected by the expiration of a contract with Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company.

Yesterday's announcement came amid vigorous negotiations in the hours before the midnight expiration of a contract between the company and 18,000 members of the United Steelworkers union.

Philip Leshin, a spokesman for the advisory committee, said the Sept. 1, 1988, deadline represented the expiration of a contract they have with the APF garbage-disposal company in Mount Kisco.

The Wall Street Journal Europe had an agency of record, the Düsseldorf, Germany, office of BBDO Worldwide; they parted ways in March with the expiration of a contract.

As for the Coca-Cola relationship with Creative Artists, Mr. Zyman said, though it formally ended with the expiration of a contract on Oct. 1, the talent agency will work for the company on projects.

Ms. Kornfeld said that if, at the expiration of a contract with a right of first refusal, a board decides to install its own machines rather than obtain services from another vendor, the right of first refusal is a moot issue.

The FMCS offered its services upon request or in disputes affecting interstate commerce, and was required to be notified within 30 days of the expiration of a contract where either side proposes modification or termination of the existing contract.

Fire at Chevron Ignored In the usual excitement that attends the expiration of a contract, the energy market ignored the fire last Friday that shut down a Chevron Corporation crude refinery in California, Mr. Hughes said.

"Given our industry's - and our country's - current economic climate, everyone at the table recognized the importance of reaching an agreement without the disruption of production that inevitably comes in the months immediately preceding the expiration of a contract," said Gil Cates, chairman of the negotiating committee for the Directors Guild of America.

The rules on the expiration of contracts were altered.

The "triple witching" period refers to the expiration of contracts covering stock index futures, options on such futures and options on individual stocks.

Now, with the expiration of contracts on June 30 each year, more superintendents (no one has precise figures) have been moving on or been asked to move on.

Strike Brings Break The expiration of contracts with all city employee unions within six months of Mr. Rendell's taking office proved essential to his strategy.

But as part of a procedure designed in June, the expirations of contracts were spread over Thursday and yesterday, smoothing out the often-volatile process during which program traders settle outstanding positions.

By moving the expiration of the most important futures to the morning, rather than the afternoon, and advertising the order imbalances they create, the Big Board reduces the volatility created by expirations of contracts, the once-feared "triple witching hours."

Strike deadlines were set for midnight tonight with the expiration of contracts covering 2,000 drivers for 350 private carting companies in the city and lower Westchester County and 2,600 milk deliverers and dairy workers employed by 50 milk distributors in the city and Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties.