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Government Building

Greece's legislature has ratified a disputed labor reform that permits 13-hour working days, despite strong resistance and countrywide protests.

Government officials claimed the measure will revamp Greek work laws, but critics from the left-wing party labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Elements of the New Work Legislation

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

The government emphasizes that the extended workday is voluntary, solely applies to the business sector, and can only be implemented for up to 37 days annually.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

Thursday's ballot was backed by MPs from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left party – now the primary opposition – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing group did not vote.

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

Official Justification and Employee Safeguards

A senior official defended the legislation, stating the changes bring in line national legislation with current labor-market realities, and accused critics of misinforming the public.

The laws will provide employees the choice to accept extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they will not be fired for declining overtime.

This complies with European Union working-time regulations, which limit the mean week to forty-eight hours including extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses

But, critics have charged the government of weakening employee protections and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local workers currently work longer hours than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in reality mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Labor Reforms and Financial Background

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

New laws, which came into effect at the beginning of July, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

European Work Statistics and Greek Financial Metrics

• Across the EU in 2024, the longest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• As of this year, the nation's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which ended in recent years, but wages and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.