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Government Building

Greece's legislature has given the green light a hotly debated work legislation that enables 13-hour working days, despite strong resistance and nationwide protests.

The administration asserted the law will modernize Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the left-wing party labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the New Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved legislation, annual overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour week stays unchanged.

The government emphasizes that the extended workday is optional, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative political group, with the centre-left party – now the main opposition – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party abstained.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests demanding the bill's withdrawal recently that brought public transport and public services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, claiming the reforms align Greek legislation with modern labor-market realities, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will give workers the option to accept extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing overtime.

The measure complies with European Union labor rules, which cap the average week to 48 hours including overtime but allow flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Reactions

But, critics have charged the administration of weakening workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They say Greek employees already work longer hours than most EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Financial Background

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a attempt to boost the economy.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the start of the summer, permit employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a week as opposed to forty.

EU Work Statistics and Greek Financial Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the highest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, the nation's official minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but salaries and quality of life continue to be among the poorest in the EU.