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Government Building

Greece's parliament has given the green light a hotly debated labor reform that permits 13-hour working days, despite fierce resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials stated the law will revamp Greek labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing party described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Elements of the New Labor Law

Under the freshly approved legislation, annual overtime is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials maintains that the longer workday is elective, solely applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days annually.

Political Support and Resistance

Thursday's vote was supported by MPs from the ruling conservative party, with the centre-left faction – currently the main resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing group abstained.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that brought public transport and services to a stop.

Official Defense and Employee Protections

A senior official defended the legislation, stating the changes align Greek laws with current labor-market realities, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will provide employees the choice to accept additional hours with the current company for increased pay, while ensuring they cannot be fired for declining overtime.

The measure follows EU labor regulations, which cap the mean week to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit adjustments over a year, according to the government.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Reactions

But, critics have accused the government of weakening workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They say Greek employees currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Financial Context

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day working week for certain industries in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

New laws, which started at the start of July, permit employees to work up to 48 hours in a week as opposed to 40.

European Labor Statistics and Greek Financial Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in 2024, the highest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• Starting this year, Greece's official minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.