Eli Cohen, director of wages for government workers, said Wednesday that striking workers will not receive pay for the hours they lose. The Histadrut national labor union began the strike at 6 a.m. Wednesday and shut down the postal service and Israeli Railways and most government offices refused to serve the public.

Cohen and Histadrut leader Ofir Eini are scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. to try to iron out a compromise, but the gaps between their demands and offers is more than 10 percent. Both sides have accused the other of manipulating figures on wages.

The Labor court earlier in the morning rejected a petition to prohibit the strike, saying that the two sides should be given the opportunity to reach an agreement.