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Government Building

The Greek legislature has approved a contentious labor reform that enables 13-hour working days, in the face of strong resistance and countrywide strike actions.

The administration claimed the law will modernize Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the freshly approved legislation, yearly overtime is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials emphasizes that the extended shift is elective, only applies to the business sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Political Backing and Opposition

The recent vote was supported by lawmakers from the governing conservative political group, with the moderate faction – now the main resistance – voting against the legislation, while the left-wing party did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and public services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, stating the changes align Greek legislation with modern labor-market realities, and alleged critics of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will provide workers the choice to accept extra work with the current company for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for refusing overtime.

The measure follows European Union working-time rules, which limit the mean workweek to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Reactions

However, critics have accused the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local employees currently put in more time than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Financial Background

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day working week for certain sectors in a attempt to boost economic growth.

New legislation, which started at the beginning of the summer, allow employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a week as opposed to forty.

European Labor Data and Greek Economic Indicators

• Across the European Union in 2024, the longest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• As of this year, Greece's national base pay was €968 a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its prolonged financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the poorest in the European Union.