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Government Building

Greece's legislature has given the green light a contentious work legislation that authorizes extended-length working days, despite fierce resistance and countrywide protests.

Government officials stated the law will update Greek work laws, but critics from the progressive faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the New Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved law, yearly extra hours is limited at 150 hours, while the regular 40-hour week stays unchanged.

The government insists that the extended shift is voluntary, only affects the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Backing and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by lawmakers from the governing centre-right party, with the centre-left party – now the main opposition – voting against the bill, while the progressive party did not vote.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes demanding the law's repeal recently that brought transportation and public services to a stop.

Government Justification and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister supported the bill, claiming the reforms align national laws with modern labor-market conditions, and accused critics of misleading the citizens.

The laws will provide employees the choice to take on extra work with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for declining extra hours.

This complies with EU working-time rules, which limit the mean week to 48 hours counting extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Perspectives and Union Responses

But, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening workers' rights and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They say Greek workers currently put in more time than most Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union stated variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Reforms and Financial Context

Last year, the country introduced a six-day working week for specific sectors in a bid to boost the economy.

New legislation, which started at the beginning of the summer, allow workers to labor up to 48 hours in a week as opposed to 40.

European Work Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the longest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an EU average of 5.9%, data from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but salaries and living standards remain among the lowest in the European Union.