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Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a disputed labor reform that authorizes 13-hour work shifts, despite strong resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials claimed the measure will update the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved law, annual extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek remains in place.

The government maintains that the longer shift is voluntary, solely affects the business sector, and can only be used for up to 37 days annually.

Political Backing and Opposition

The recent ballot was backed by lawmakers from the governing conservative political group, with the centre-left faction – now the main resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing group did not vote.

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

Official Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the bill, claiming the reforms align Greek laws with modern employment conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the citizens.

The laws will give employees the choice to take on extra work with the same employer for increased pay, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for declining overtime.

The measure follows European Union labor regulations, which limit the average week to 48 hours including extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Responses

But, critics have charged the government of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the country back to a medieval work era." They say local workers currently work longer hours than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Background

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

Recent laws, which started at the start of July, allow workers to work up to 48 hours in a week as instead of forty.

EU Labor Statistics and Greek Economic Metrics

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the highest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, the nation's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.