Kapan's "Deno Gold Mining Company" issued pink slips to some 200-300 employees, warning them that their work contract would not be renewed as of June 15. The company failed to inform the Kapan Regional Employment Center of the pending large-scale lay-offs.

Ruben Poghosyan, Director of the Employment Center, reports that two employees have already been registered. When we contacted Deno Company spokesperson Rubina Ter-Martirosyan, she denied that any lay-offs had taken place. "Simply put, the work contracts of certain employees have expired and company management has decided that it is not conducive to renew them. This cannot be construed as lay-offs," Mrs. Ter-Martirosyan noted. The assistance deal that the company worked out with the Armenian government stipulates that there would be no job cuts. When we asked if this didn't violate the letter of the cooperation agreement with the government, Mrs. Ter-Martirosyan responded, "We had reached an understanding with the government that the company would employ 950-1000 workers. Today, Deno Gold employs 1,200 individuals." However, several employees we spoke with claimed that the contracts were open-ended, with no fixed duration. Thus, this is another in a series of lay-offs. We should note that the RoA government will convene an outgoing session in Kapan on June 26.