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Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a hotly debated labor reform that permits extended-length work shifts, despite widespread resistance and countrywide strike actions.

The administration stated the law will update Greek labor regulations, but critics from the progressive faction described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

Under the freshly approved legislation, yearly overtime is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour week stays unchanged.

Officials maintains that the longer shift is optional, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Political Backing and Opposition

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

Labor unions have organized two general strikes demanding the law's repeal this month that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Official Justification and Employee Protections

A senior official defended the bill, saying the changes align national laws with current labor-market conditions, and accused critics of misleading the public.

The laws will provide workers the option to accept extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for declining overtime.

This follows EU labor regulations, which limit the average workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Responses

But, critics have accused the government of weakening employee protections and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local employees currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Financial Background

Last year, the country introduced a six-day working week for specific industries in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

New laws, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, allow workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

EU Labor Data and National Financial Metrics

• Throughout the European Union in 2024, the longest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, the nation's national minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in August versus an EU average of 5.9%, data from the statistical office show.
• The country is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and living standards remain among the poorest in the European Union.