🔗 Share this article

Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a contentious labor reform that permits 13-hour work shifts, despite strong resistance and countrywide protests.

The administration claimed the law will update Greek work laws, but critics from the progressive faction described it as a "harmful law."

Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved law, annual extra hours is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials maintains that the extended workday is voluntary, only affects the private sector, and can only be applied for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Opposition

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative political group, with the moderate faction – now the primary opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests calling for the law's repeal recently that brought public transport and services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister supported the bill, stating the changes align Greek laws with modern employment realities, and accused critics of misleading the public.

These regulations will provide employees the choice to accept additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

This complies with EU labor rules, which cap the average workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but allow flexibility over 12 months, according to the government.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Responses

But, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local employees currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Workplace Reforms and Economic Context

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day work schedule for certain sectors in a bid to boost economic growth.

Recent laws, which started at the start of July, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a week as instead of forty.

European Labor Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the longest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• As of this year, the nation's national minimum wage stood at €968 a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer versus an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but wages and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.