Minister of Labor and Welfare Eli Yishai (Shas) has formed a
task force to examine complaints against the Intel company
concerning its refusal to employ Shabbos observers in its
Israeli plants. Intel is a major American corporation that
has large manufacturing plants in Yerushalayim and Kiryat
Gat. It is the largest producer of the CPU chips that are the
heart and brains of modern computers, and it recently
announced that its Kiryat Gat plant will use the most
advanced production technology. Intel received an Israeli
government subsidy of $380 million towards the construction
of its Kiryat Gat plant, representing almost 40% of the total
cost.
Minister Yishai announced his plans last week in the Knesset
plenum in response to a parliamentary question posed by MK
Rabbi Moshe Gafni. In his question Rabbi Gafni reported that
Intel refused to accept an applicant for employment because
he is religious.
Minister Yishai said that the problem raised by Rabbi Gafni
is complex as well as painful. He related that his office
often encounters employers who refuse to hire Shabbos-
observers, while claiming that the applicant was rejected for
other reasons. Minister Yishai stressed that it is difficult
to take action against such employers, because they always
pin their refusal to accept religious workers on their lack
of qualifications. He then added: "Go prove that the decisive
factor in the refusal wasn't the kippa on the
applicant's head."
Minister Yishai added that he has been examining the number
of applicants applying for employment by Intel, and that last
week he sent the company a stern letter about the many
complaints he has received about prospective religious
employees who were rejected. "On the telephone they tell them
that their qualifications are fine and that they can come for
an interview. People send in their school records, and if
their grades are high there is no reason why they shouldn't
be accepted. The moment they see the applicants in person,
Intel finds all sorts all of excuses for rejecting them,"
Yishai said.
He then stressed that it is inconceivable to discriminate
against a worker because he is religious and added that his
office has become stricter on the issue. "We have met with
the director, and I have personally written to him," Yishai
said. He also said that he is checking Intel's list of
employees to ascertain how many of them are religious.
Rabbi Gafni said that this issue is part of the overall
argument over the image of the State as a Jewish one. "It has
become clear that a person who observes Shabbos, even if he
doesn't wear a yarmulke, cannot be accepted to work
because malls and companies are open on Shabbos and buses run
on Shabbos. We are transforming this State into an
inegalitarian one which discriminates against a sector of its
citizenry."
