🔗 Share this article

Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a disputed work legislation that permits extended-length work shifts, in the face of fierce opposition and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials asserted the law will revamp Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour week continues as before.

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

Political Support and Resistance

The recent vote was supported by MPs from the governing centre-right political group, with the centre-left party – 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 transportation and public services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Employee Safeguards

A senior official defended the legislation, stating the reforms align national legislation with current employment conditions, and accused critics of misleading the public.

These regulations will give workers the choice to take on extra work with the current company for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they cannot be fired for declining overtime.

The measure follows EU working-time rules, which limit the average week to 48 hours including overtime but allow flexibility over a year, according to the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Union Reactions

But, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local workers already work longer hours than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Changes and Economic Background

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day work schedule for certain sectors in a bid to boost economic growth.

New legislation, which came into effect at the start of July, allow employees to work up to 48 hours in a week as instead of forty.

EU Labor Data and Greek Financial Metrics

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the longest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's official minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August versus an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the EU.