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Government Building

The Greek parliament has given the green light a disputed labor reform that authorizes 13-hour work shifts, in the face of widespread opposition and nationwide protests.

The administration stated the measure will revamp Greek labor regulations, but critics from the progressive faction labeled it as a "harmful law."

Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

Under the newly enacted law, annual extra hours is also at 150 hours, while the standard 40-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government maintains that the longer workday is optional, only affects the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days annually.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the ruling centre-right party, with the moderate faction – now the primary opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive party did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized two general strikes calling for the law's repeal recently that halted public transport and services to a stop.

Government Justification and Worker Safeguards

A senior official supported the bill, stating the changes bring in line Greek legislation with current employment conditions, and alleged critics of misinforming the public.

The laws will give employees the choice to take on extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours.

The measure complies with EU labor regulations, which cap the average week to 48 hours including overtime but allow flexibility over a year, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses

But, opposition parties have accused the government of eroding employee protections and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They say Greek workers already put in more time than most Europeans while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Workplace Reforms and Economic Background

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day working week for certain industries in a bid to boost the economy.

New legislation, which started at the start of the summer, allow employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

European Labor Statistics and National Economic Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the longest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's official base pay stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and living standards remain among the lowest in the EU.