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Government Building

Greece's parliament has ratified a contentious work legislation that permits 13-hour work shifts, despite widespread resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials claimed the law will update the country's labor regulations, but critics from the progressive party described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Provisions of the New Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved law, annual extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government insists that the longer shift is voluntary, solely applies to the private sector, and can only be applied for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

Thursday's vote was supported by lawmakers from the ruling conservative party, with the moderate party – currently the primary resistance – voting against the legislation, while the left-wing party did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests calling for the law's repeal recently that brought transportation and services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Worker Protections

A senior official supported the legislation, saying the changes bring in line national legislation with modern employment realities, and accused critics of misinforming the public.

The laws will give employees the choice to take on additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for declining extra hours.

This follows European Union labor regulations, which limit the mean workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Reactions

However, opposition parties have accused the government of eroding employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local employees already put in more time than most EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of excessive labor."

Recent Labor Reforms and Economic Background

Last year, the country enacted a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a bid to boost the economy.

Recent laws, which started at the start of the summer, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

European Work Statistics and National Economic Indicators

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• As of this year, Greece's official base pay stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but wages and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.