Israel’s parliament has voted into law a contested curb on some Supreme Court powers submitted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The bill passed by a 64-0 vote, the Knesset speaker said, after opposition politicians abandoned the plenum in protest on Monday.

The head of Israel’s main public sector union said he would meet with other union officials to discuss the possibility of declaring a general strike following the ratification.

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,” he said.

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

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Reuters