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Government Building

Greece's legislature has given the green light a contentious work legislation that authorizes 13-hour working days, despite strong opposition and nationwide protests.

Government officials stated the measure will revamp the country's work laws, but critics from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted law, annual extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek remains in place.

The government insists that the extended shift is optional, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

Thursday's ballot was supported by MPs from the ruling centre-right political group, with the moderate party – currently the primary opposition – voting against the bill, while the progressive group abstained.

Worker organizations have organized two general strikes calling for the law's repeal this month that brought public transport and public services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Worker Safeguards

A senior official defended the legislation, stating the reforms align national laws with current labor-market realities, and accused critics of misinforming the public.

These regulations will give employees the choice to accept extra work with the same employer for increased pay, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for declining extra hours.

The measure follows European Union working-time rules, which limit the mean week to 48 hours including overtime but permit flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Responses

However, opposition parties have accused the administration of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They argue local workers currently work longer hours than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the disruption of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Background

Last year, Greece introduced a six-day working week for specific industries in a bid to boost the economy.

Recent laws, which started at the beginning of July, permit employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

European Work Data and Greek Financial Indicators

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the highest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's national minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat show.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but salaries and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the EU.