🔗 Share this article

Government Building

The Greek legislature has ratified a disputed labor reform that permits 13-hour work shifts, despite fierce opposition and countrywide protests.

The administration stated the measure will update the country's labor regulations, but critics from the progressive party labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the freshly approved legislation, annual overtime is capped at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour week stays unchanged.

The government insists that the extended shift is optional, solely applies to the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

Thursday's ballot was backed by MPs from the governing conservative political group, with the centre-left party – now the main resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal recently that brought public transport and public services to a stop.

Official Defense and Worker Protections

A senior official defended the legislation, claiming the reforms bring in line Greek legislation with current employment conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

The laws will give workers the choice to take on extra work with the same employer for increased pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

This complies with European Union labor rules, which cap the mean week to forty-eight hours counting overtime but permit flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Responses

But, opposition parties have accused the government of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a medieval work era." They say Greek workers already work longer hours than most 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 destruction of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Recent Labor Changes and Financial Context

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day working week for specific sectors in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

New laws, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, permit employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

European Labor Data and National Economic Metrics

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the longest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, Greece's national minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an EU average of 5.9%, data from Eurostat show.
• The country is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but wages and quality of life remain among the lowest in the EU.