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Government Building

The Greek legislature has given the green light a hotly debated labor reform that permits 13-hour work shifts, despite strong opposition and nationwide strike actions.

The administration asserted the law will revamp Greek labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted law, yearly overtime is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour week remains in place.

The government emphasizes that the longer workday is optional, solely applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Backing and Opposition

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

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal recently that halted transportation and services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Worker Safeguards

A senior official defended the legislation, claiming the changes bring in line Greek laws with current labor-market conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will give employees the choice to take on extra work with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for refusing overtime.

This follows EU working-time rules, which limit the mean workweek to 48 hours counting overtime but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Responses

However, opposition parties have charged the administration of eroding employee protections and "pushing the country back to a medieval work era." They say local workers currently put in more time than most Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

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

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Context

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day working week for specific sectors in a bid to boost economic growth.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the beginning of July, allow workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

European Labor Data and Greek Economic Metrics

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, Greece's national base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat show.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but salaries and quality of life remain among the poorest in the European Union.