🔗 Share this article

Government Building

The Greek legislature has given the green light a contentious work legislation that enables 13-hour working days, in the face of strong resistance and nationwide protests.

The administration claimed the measure will modernize the country's work laws, but critics from the progressive faction labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Provisions of the New Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved legislation, annual overtime is limited at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials insists that the extended shift is voluntary, only applies to the private sector, and can only be implemented for up to 37 days annually.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's vote was supported by MPs from the ruling centre-right political group, with the moderate party – now the primary resistance – voting against the bill, while the progressive group did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests demanding the law's repeal this month that halted transportation and services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the bill, saying the changes bring in line Greek laws with current labor-market conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will provide employees the option to take on additional hours with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they will not be fired for declining extra hours.

This complies with EU labor regulations, which limit the average workweek to 48 hours including overtime but permit adjustments over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Reactions

However, opposition parties have charged the government of weakening employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a medieval work era." They say Greek employees currently put in more time than most Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Economic Context

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day working week for certain sectors in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

Recent laws, which started at the start of July, allow employees to work up to 48 hours in a week as instead of forty.

European Labor Statistics and National Economic Metrics

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, the nation's national base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the European Union.