🔗 Share this article

Government Building

The Greek parliament has approved a disputed work legislation that permits 13-hour working days, despite fierce resistance and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials asserted the measure will modernize Greek labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing party labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Elements of the New Labor Law

According to the newly enacted legislation, annual extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour workweek continues as before.

The government maintains that the longer shift is optional, solely applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Political Backing and Opposition

The recent ballot was supported by MPs from the governing centre-right political group, with the moderate faction – currently the primary resistance – rejecting the bill, while the progressive group did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that brought transportation and public services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, stating the reforms align national laws with modern employment conditions, and alleged critics of misinforming the public.

These regulations will give workers the choice to take on extra work with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows EU labor rules, which cap the average workweek to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, according to the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

However, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "pushing the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees currently put in more time than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization said flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Context

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to stimulate the economy.

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of July, allow workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a week as instead of forty.

European Work Data and Greek Financial Metrics

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, Greece's national base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but wages and quality of life remain among the lowest in the European Union.