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Government Building

The Greek parliament has given the green light a disputed work legislation that authorizes extended-length work shifts, despite widespread opposition and countrywide protests.

Government officials stated the measure will revamp the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the left-wing party described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the freshly approved legislation, yearly overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials insists that the longer workday is elective, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by lawmakers from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – now the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group did not vote.

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

Official Defense and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the bill, saying the reforms align Greek legislation with current employment conditions, and alleged critics of misleading the citizens.

The laws will give workers the choice to accept extra work with the current company for increased pay, while guaranteeing they will not be fired for refusing extra hours.

This complies with EU working-time rules, which limit the mean workweek to 48 hours counting extra hours but allow adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Reactions

But, opposition parties have accused the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the country back to a medieval work era." They say local employees currently work longer hours than most EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Changes and Financial Context

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

New legislation, which started at the beginning of July, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

European Labor Data and National Financial Metrics

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to EU statistics.
• Starting this year, the nation's national base pay stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in August compared with an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the EU.