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Government Building

Greece's legislature has ratified a hotly debated labor reform that authorizes 13-hour work shifts, despite widespread resistance and nationwide protests.

Government officials stated the law will revamp the country's labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

Under the newly enacted law, annual overtime is limited at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour week remains in place.

The government insists that the longer shift is voluntary, solely affects the business sector, and can only be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Political Backing and Resistance

Thursday's vote was supported by MPs from the ruling conservative party, with the moderate party – now the primary resistance – voting against the bill, while the progressive group did not vote.

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

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

A senior official supported the bill, saying the changes align national legislation with current employment realities, and alleged critics of misinforming the public.

These regulations will provide employees the choice to take on additional hours with the current company for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows European Union working-time rules, which limit the mean week to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Union Reactions

But, opposition parties have accused the government of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue local employees already 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 eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Context

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day work schedule for specific sectors in a bid to stimulate the economy.

Recent laws, which started at the beginning of July, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

EU Work Statistics and National Economic Metrics

• Across the European Union in 2024, the highest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's official minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in the summer versus an EU average of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is improving since its prolonged financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.