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Government Building

Greece's parliament has given the green light a hotly debated work legislation that enables 13-hour work shifts, in the face of strong opposition and nationwide protests.

Government officials asserted the measure will revamp Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved law, annual overtime is capped at 150 hours, while the standard 40-hour week remains in place.

The government maintains that the longer workday is elective, solely affects the business sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Backing and Opposition

Thursday's vote was supported by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the centre-left party – now the primary resistance – rejecting the bill, while the progressive party did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes demanding the bill's withdrawal this month that brought public transport and services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister supported the bill, claiming the changes align Greek laws with modern labor-market conditions, and accused critics of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will give workers the choice to take on additional hours with the current company for increased pay, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for declining extra hours.

The measure complies with EU labor rules, which cap the average week to 48 hours counting extra hours but permit adjustments over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Reactions

But, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees currently put in more time than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Background

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

Recent legislation, which started at the start of July, allow workers to labor up to 48 hours in a week as instead of forty.

EU Work Statistics and National Economic Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the highest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, the nation's national base pay was €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an European mean of 5.9%, data from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the EU.