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Government Building

Greece's legislature has ratified a hotly debated work legislation that enables 13-hour work shifts, in the face of widespread resistance and countrywide protests.

The administration stated the law will revamp the country's work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved law, annual overtime is capped at 150 hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government emphasizes that the extended workday is elective, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

Thursday's vote was supported by MPs from the ruling conservative political group, with the moderate party – currently the main resistance – voting against the bill, while the left-wing group did not vote.

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

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the legislation, claiming the changes align Greek laws with current employment conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the citizens.

These regulations will give workers the choice to accept additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they cannot be fired for declining overtime.

The measure follows EU working-time regulations, which cap the average workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

However, opposition parties have charged the government of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Changes and Economic Context

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

Recent laws, which started at the start of the summer, allow employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

EU Work Statistics and National Financial Metrics

• Across the EU in the previous year, the highest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, Greece's official 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 versus an European mean of five point nine percent, data from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.