🔗 Share this article

Government Building

The Greek legislature has ratified a contentious labor reform that authorizes 13-hour work shifts, in the face of strong resistance and countrywide protests.

The administration claimed the law will update Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted legislation, annual overtime is also at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour week remains in place.

The government insists that the extended workday is optional, only affects the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Political Support and Opposition

The recent vote was backed by lawmakers from the governing conservative party, with the moderate party – currently the main opposition – voting against the legislation, while the left-wing party did not vote.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that brought public transport and services to a stop.

Official Justification and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister defended the bill, claiming the changes bring in line Greek legislation with modern employment conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the citizens.

These regulations will provide workers the option to accept additional hours with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows EU working-time rules, which cap the average week to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow flexibility over 12 months, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses

But, critics have accused the government of weakening workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue local employees already put in more time than most Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Workplace Changes and Economic Context

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a bid to boost the economy.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a week as instead of forty.

EU Work Data and National Economic Indicators

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the highest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• Starting this year, the nation's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an European mean of 5.9%, data from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the EU.