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Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a contentious labor reform that permits 13-hour work shifts, despite strong resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials asserted the law will revamp the country's work laws, but critics from the progressive faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved law, annual extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek remains in place.

The government maintains that the longer shift is elective, solely applies to the private sector, and can only be implemented for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

The recent ballot was supported by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the moderate party – now the primary resistance – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Labor unions have staged two general strikes calling for the law's repeal this month that brought public transport and public services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Employee Safeguards

A senior official supported the legislation, claiming the changes align national legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and alleged critics of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will give workers the option to take on extra work with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they will not be fired for declining overtime.

This complies with European Union working-time regulations, which limit the average week to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow flexibility over 12 months, according to the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Responses

However, critics have charged the government of weakening workers' rights and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local workers currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

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

Previous Labor Reforms and Financial Context

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

Recent legislation, which started at the start of the summer, permit workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

EU Labor Data and National Financial Indicators

• Across the European Union in 2024, the highest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's national minimum wage was €968 a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards remain among the poorest in the EU.