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Government Building

The Greek parliament has given the green light a disputed labor reform that enables extended-length working days, despite widespread opposition and countrywide protests.

The administration asserted the law will update Greek work laws, but critics from the progressive party described it as a "harmful law."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the newly enacted law, annual overtime is limited at 150 hours, while the regular 40-hour week continues as before.

Officials maintains that the extended workday is elective, solely affects the business sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left party – now the main resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests calling for the law's repeal this month that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Official Justification and Employee Protections

A senior official supported the legislation, saying the changes align national laws with modern labor-market realities, and alleged critics of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will provide workers the option to accept extra work with the current company for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

This complies with EU working-time regulations, which cap the mean week to 48 hours counting extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, according to the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Labor Responses

But, critics have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They say local employees currently work longer hours than most EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Changes and Economic Background

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a bid to boost the economy.

New legislation, which came into effect at the start of July, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

European Work Data and Greek Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in 2024, the highest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's official minimum wage was €968 a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and living standards remain among the lowest in the European Union.