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Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a contentious labor reform that enables extended-length working days, despite widespread opposition and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials stated the measure will modernize the country's work laws, but critics from the left-wing faction described it as a "harmful law."

Key Elements of the New Work Legislation

According to the newly enacted legislation, yearly extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials maintains that the extended shift is optional, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

Thursday's vote was backed by lawmakers from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – now the primary resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests demanding the law's repeal recently that brought public transport and services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Employee Protections

A senior official defended the bill, saying the reforms align Greek laws with current employment realities, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

These regulations will give employees the choice to take on extra work with the current company for increased pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for refusing extra hours.

This complies with European Union labor regulations, which cap the mean workweek to 48 hours including overtime but permit flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Reactions

However, opposition parties have charged the government of eroding employee protections and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Background

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

New laws, which came into effect at the beginning of July, allow employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

European Work Data and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the highest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, Greece's national base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but salaries and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the EU.