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Government Building

The Greek parliament has given the green light a hotly debated work legislation that enables 13-hour working days, in the face of widespread resistance and countrywide protests.

Government officials claimed the law will revamp Greek labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing faction described it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the New Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved law, annual overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials emphasizes that the extended workday is voluntary, solely applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Opposition

The recent ballot was supported by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the centre-left faction – currently the primary resistance – rejecting the bill, while the progressive party did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Worker Safeguards

A senior official defended the bill, claiming the reforms align national laws with modern labor-market conditions, and alleged critics of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will provide workers the option to take on additional hours with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for declining extra hours.

This follows EU labor rules, which limit the average week to 48 hours counting extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, according to the government.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Responses

But, opposition parties have charged the government of eroding employee protections and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local employees currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Changes and Economic Background

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day working week for certain sectors in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

New laws, which started at the start of July, permit workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

European Work Statistics and Greek Economic Indicators

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's official minimum wage stood at €968 a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August versus an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but salaries and living standards remain among the lowest in the EU.