🔗 Share this article

Government Building

Greece's parliament has approved a contentious work legislation that enables extended-length work shifts, in the face of fierce opposition and countrywide protests.

Government officials claimed the law will update Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted legislation, yearly overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour workweek remains in place.

Officials emphasizes that the longer workday is optional, only affects the business sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Opposition

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the governing centre-right party, with the centre-left party – now the primary resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party did not vote.

Labor unions have staged two general strikes calling for the law's repeal this month that brought transportation and public services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the bill, claiming the reforms bring in line national legislation with current labor-market conditions, and alleged critics of misinforming the public.

The laws will give employees the option to take on extra work with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for declining overtime.

This follows European Union working-time rules, which cap the mean week to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

However, critics have accused the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local employees already work longer hours than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Changes and Economic Context

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to boost the economy.

New laws, which started at the start of the summer, allow workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

European Labor Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• As of this year, the nation's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, data from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and quality of life remain among the lowest in the EU.