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Government Building

Greece's parliament has ratified a contentious work legislation that authorizes extended-length working days, in the face of widespread opposition and countrywide protests.

Government officials asserted the measure will modernize Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the freshly approved law, yearly extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials maintains that the longer workday is voluntary, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Opposition

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the governing centre-right party, with the centre-left faction – now the main resistance – rejecting the bill, while the progressive party did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes demanding the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Official Defense and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the bill, claiming the changes bring in line Greek legislation with modern employment realities, and accused critics of misleading the citizens.

The laws will give workers the option to accept additional hours with the current company for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for declining overtime.

The measure follows European Union labor regulations, which limit the mean workweek to 48 hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the government.

Critical Perspectives and Union Reactions

But, opposition parties have accused the administration of eroding employee protections and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local workers already put in more time than most Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

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

Previous Workplace Reforms and Financial Context

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day working week for certain industries in a attempt to stimulate the economy.

New legislation, which started at the beginning of July, allow workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

EU Work Data and Greek Economic Indicators

• Across the European Union in 2024, the highest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, the nation's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August compared with an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the European Union.