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Government Building

The Greek parliament has given the green light a hotly debated work legislation that enables 13-hour working days, in the face of strong opposition and nationwide protests.

The administration asserted the measure will update Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive party described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

Under the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour week stays unchanged.

The government maintains that the longer shift is optional, solely applies to the private sector, and can only be applied for up to 37 days annually.

Political Support and Opposition

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the governing conservative political group, with the moderate party – currently the primary opposition – rejecting the bill, while the progressive party did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged multiple protests calling for the law's repeal this month that brought transportation and public services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the bill, claiming the changes align Greek laws with current employment conditions, and alleged critics of misleading the citizens.

The laws will give workers the choice to take on extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for refusing overtime.

The measure follows EU labor regulations, which limit the average week to 48 hours including overtime but allow adjustments over a year, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Reactions

But, critics have accused the government of eroding employee protections and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local workers currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Labor Changes and Economic Background

Last year, the country enacted a six-day working week for specific sectors in a bid to boost economic growth.

New laws, which came into effect at the start of the summer, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a week as instead of 40.

European Labor Statistics and Greek Economic Indicators

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the longest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• As of this year, Greece's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat show.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the EU.