Food market chain owner promises to fire CEO following revelation he employed Jews during fast.
By JPOST.COM STAFFyishai looks up 224.88(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai ordered his ministry to launch an investigation of AM:PM following an Army Radio report that the food market chain employed Jews on Yom Kippur in some of its Tel Aviv stores for maintenance work and cleaning.
Yishai said the chain had "trampled over public sensitivities."
According to the report, the employees were paid treble their regular salaries and in at least two of the stores, newspapers were stuck on the windows to conceal the activity from passersby.
Following the revelation, AM:PM owner Dudi Weissman said he planned to fire the company's CEO, Oded Bloom.
In a statement, Weissman said he was opposed to the Yom Kippur work, about which he claimed to have no prior knowledge, and stressed it did not reflect company policy.
Labor MK Shelly Yacimovic called for a civil lawsuit to be brought against Weissman on charges of breaking employment law.
A court ruling has forbidden all economic activity from being carried out on Yom Kippur unless special permission is granted by the industry trade and labor minister.
Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknop, secretary of the Committee for the Sanctity of Shabbat, said that haredim would boycott the food market chain.
Since Weissman acquired AM:PM, haredim have protested the convenience store network's Shabbat opening by threatening to boycott his other chains, Shefa Shuk and Mega.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
![yishai looks up 224.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/19480 "yishai looks up 224.88")