The Greek Parliament Enacts Disputed Workplace Legislation Permitting Longer Working Days in Certain Circumstances

Government Building

The Greek legislature has given the green light a hotly debated labor reform that enables 13-hour work shifts, despite strong opposition and countrywide strike actions.

The administration asserted the law will revamp the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the left-wing faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted legislation, annual extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour week remains in place.

Officials insists that the extended workday is voluntary, solely applies to the business sector, and can only be applied for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was supported by MPs from the ruling conservative political group, with the moderate party – now the primary resistance – rejecting the bill, while the progressive party did not vote.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes demanding the law's repeal recently that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Government Justification and Worker Protections

A senior official supported the legislation, claiming the changes align Greek legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

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

This follows EU working-time regulations, which limit the average workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but permit flexibility over a year, according to the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Reactions

But, opposition parties have accused the administration of weakening employee protections and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They say local employees already put in more time than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization said flexible working hours in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Reforms and Financial Background

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day work schedule for specific sectors in a bid to stimulate the economy.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the beginning of July, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a week as opposed to forty.

EU Labor Statistics and Greek Financial Metrics

• Across the EU in 2024, the highest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• As of this year, Greece's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and living standards remain among the poorest in the EU.