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Government Building

Greece's legislature has ratified a hotly debated work legislation that permits 13-hour work shifts, despite strong opposition and nationwide strike actions.

The administration asserted the measure will update the country's work laws, but critics from the left-wing party described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is capped at 150 hours, while the regular forty-hour week remains in place.

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

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

The recent ballot was backed by lawmakers from the governing centre-right political group, with the centre-left faction – now the primary opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and public services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Employee Protections

A senior official defended the bill, claiming the reforms align national laws with current labor-market conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

The laws will give employees the choice to take on extra work with the current company for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they will not be fired for declining extra hours.

This complies with European Union labor rules, which limit the average workweek to 48 hours counting overtime but allow adjustments over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Reactions

However, critics have accused the government of weakening workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local workers already work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Background

Last year, the country introduced a six-day working week for specific industries in a bid to boost the economy.

New legislation, which started at the start of the summer, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

EU Labor Statistics and Greek Economic Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the highest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, the nation's official minimum wage stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.