🔗 Share this article

Government Building

The Greek parliament has approved a contentious labor reform that authorizes 13-hour work shifts, despite widespread resistance and countrywide protests.

Government officials stated the measure will revamp Greek work laws, but critics from the left-wing party described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved legislation, yearly extra hours is limited at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government insists that the extended workday is optional, only applies to the business sector, and can only be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Political Backing and Opposition

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – now the main resistance – voting against the bill, while the left-wing party abstained.

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

Official Defense and Worker Safeguards

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

These regulations will provide workers the choice to accept extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing overtime.

The measure follows EU working-time rules, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, as stated by the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Reactions

But, critics have charged the administration of weakening workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek workers currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Changes and Financial Context

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day work schedule for certain sectors in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

New legislation, which came into effect at the start of July, allow employees to labor up to 48 hours in a week as opposed to 40.

EU Labor Statistics and National Financial Metrics

• Throughout the European Union in 2024, the highest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's national minimum wage was €968 a month, placing it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in August versus an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.