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Government Building

Greece's parliament has approved a contentious work legislation that authorizes extended-length working days, despite strong resistance and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials asserted the measure will update Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the freshly approved legislation, annual extra hours is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour week remains in place.

The government maintains that the longer shift is optional, only applies to the business sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Political Backing and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right party, with the moderate faction – now the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive party abstained.

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

Official Justification and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, saying the changes bring in line national legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and alleged critics of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will give workers the option to take on extra work with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for declining extra hours.

This complies with EU working-time rules, which limit the average week to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses

However, critics have accused the government of eroding employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They say Greek workers currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Changes and Economic Background

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

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

European Labor Data and Greek Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the highest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, data from the statistical office show.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the EU.