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Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a contentious work legislation that authorizes 13-hour working days, in the face of widespread resistance and countrywide strike actions.

The administration stated the law will modernize Greek labor regulations, but critics from the progressive party described it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved legislation, annual overtime is limited at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials emphasizes that the extended shift is voluntary, only affects the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days annually.

Political Support and Resistance

Thursday's vote was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the moderate party – currently the main opposition – rejecting the bill, while the progressive party abstained.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal recently that halted public transport and services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the legislation, stating the changes align national laws with modern labor-market conditions, and alleged critics of misleading the public.

These regulations will provide workers the option to take on extra work with the same employer for increased pay, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for refusing overtime.

The measure complies with European Union labor regulations, which cap the average workweek to 48 hours counting overtime but allow adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Responses

However, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say Greek employees already work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Changes and Economic Context

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day working week for certain industries in a bid to boost the economy.

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

European Labor Statistics and National Financial Metrics

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per EU statistics.
• As of this year, Greece's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.