Israel’s main union to discuss declaring general strike

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The head of Israel’s main public sector union said on Monday he would meet with other union officials to discuss the possibility of declaring a general strike after parliament ratified a key element in a controversial judicial overhaul plan.

Arnon Bar-David, chairman of the Histadrut labour federation, has been trying to mediate a compromise between the government and opposition. The differences were minor but mediation efforts failed due to political whims, he said.

“From this moment on, any unilateral progress in the reform will have serious consequences … Either things will progress with broad agreement or they will not progress at all,” said Bar-David.

Bar-David said he would meet with Histadrut officials to declare a “general labor dispute in the economy,” and will “activate it if necessary until a complete shutdown is achieved.”

(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Ari Rabinovitch)

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