🔗 Share this article

Government Building

The Greek parliament has given the green light a disputed work legislation that permits 13-hour work shifts, in the face of fierce opposition and nationwide protests.

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

Main Elements of the New Labor Law

According to the newly enacted legislation, annual extra hours is capped at 150 hours, while the standard 40-hour workweek continues as before.

The government emphasizes that the extended workday is optional, only affects the business sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

The recent vote was supported by lawmakers from the governing centre-right political group, with the centre-left faction – now the main resistance – voting against the bill, while the left-wing group abstained.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests demanding the law's repeal recently that brought public transport and public services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the bill, stating the reforms bring in line Greek laws with current employment conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

The laws will provide workers the choice to take on extra work with the same employer for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing overtime.

This follows EU labor regulations, which limit the average workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but permit adjustments over 12 months, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Responses

However, critics have accused the administration of weakening workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They say local employees already put in more time than most Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Background

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a attempt to boost the economy.

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

EU Work Data and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in 2024, the highest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in the summer versus an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from the statistical office show.
• The country is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in recent years, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.