🔗 Share this article

Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a hotly debated labor reform that authorizes 13-hour working days, in the face of strong opposition and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials claimed the measure will revamp the country's work laws, but critics from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted legislation, yearly overtime is capped at 150 hours, while the standard 40-hour week continues as before.

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

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative political group, with the centre-left party – currently the main opposition – rejecting the bill, while the progressive group did not vote.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal recently that brought transportation and services to a stop.

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, stating the reforms align national legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and accused critics of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will provide employees the choice to take on additional hours with the same employer for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

The measure complies with EU working-time regulations, which limit the mean workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, according to the administration.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Reactions

But, critics have accused the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a medieval work era." They say local workers currently put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Reforms and Financial Background

Last year, Greece introduced a six-day working week for certain industries in a bid to boost economic growth.

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the start of the summer, allow workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

EU Work Statistics and Greek Financial Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the longest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, the nation's national minimum wage was €968 a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August versus an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the poorest in the EU.