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Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a disputed work legislation that authorizes extended-length work shifts, in the face of strong opposition and countrywide strike actions.

The administration claimed the law will update the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive faction labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved law, yearly extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour week stays unchanged.

The government emphasizes that the longer shift is elective, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's vote was supported by lawmakers from the governing centre-right party, with the centre-left faction – now the main resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group did not vote.

Labor unions have staged two general strikes calling for the law's repeal recently that brought public transport and services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister supported the legislation, claiming the reforms align national laws with current employment conditions, and alleged critics of misinforming the public.

These regulations will provide employees the option to accept extra work with the current company for increased compensation, while ensuring they will not be fired for refusing overtime.

The measure complies with EU labor rules, which cap the average week to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Responses

But, opposition parties have charged the government of weakening workers' rights and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local workers already work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Changes and Financial Context

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

New laws, which came into effect at the start of the summer, allow workers to work up to 48 hours in a week as instead of forty.

EU Work Statistics and National Economic Indicators

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the longest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's national base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August compared with an EU average of 5.9%, data from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but salaries and quality of life remain among the poorest in the European Union.