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Government Building

The Greek parliament has approved a contentious work legislation that authorizes extended-length work shifts, despite widespread opposition and nationwide strike actions.

The administration asserted the measure will revamp Greek labor regulations, but critics from the progressive faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the freshly approved legislation, annual extra hours is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour week remains in place.

Officials insists that the longer workday is optional, only applies to the private sector, and can only be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

Thursday's ballot was backed by MPs from the ruling centre-right party, with the moderate party – now the primary resistance – voting against the bill, while the progressive group abstained.

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

Official Defense and Worker Safeguards

A senior official defended the bill, claiming the reforms bring in line Greek laws with modern employment conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will provide workers the choice to accept extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for declining overtime.

The measure complies with EU working-time rules, which cap the mean workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, as stated by the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Reactions

However, critics have charged the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They say local workers already put in more time than most Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the disruption of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Context

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day working week for certain sectors in a bid to boost economic growth.

New laws, which came into effect at the start of the summer, permit employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a week as instead of 40.

European Labor Statistics and National Economic Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the highest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, Greece's official minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August versus an EU average of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office show.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the European Union.