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Government Building

Greece's parliament has given the green light a hotly debated work legislation that permits extended-length working days, despite fierce opposition and nationwide protests.

Government officials stated the law will update Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted law, annual overtime is capped at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials maintains that the longer shift is voluntary, only affects the private sector, and can only be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

Thursday's ballot was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the moderate party – now the primary resistance – voting against the bill, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests demanding the bill's withdrawal this month that halted public transport and public services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Worker Safeguards

A senior official defended the legislation, stating the reforms align Greek legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and accused critics of misleading the citizens.

The laws will give workers the choice to take on extra work with the current company for increased pay, while guaranteeing they will not be fired for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows European Union working-time rules, which cap the average week to forty-eight hours counting overtime but allow flexibility over 12 months, according to the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Responses

However, critics have accused the administration of weakening workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They say Greek employees currently work longer hours than most Europeans while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

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

Previous Workplace Changes and Economic Context

Last year, Greece introduced a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

Recent laws, which started at the beginning of the summer, permit employees to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

European Work Data and Greek Economic Metrics

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the highest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, Greece's official minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.