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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 fierce opposition and nationwide protests.

The administration asserted the law will modernize Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the New Work Legislation

According to the newly enacted legislation, yearly extra hours is limited at 150 hours, while the standard 40-hour week stays unchanged.

Officials maintains that the extended shift is voluntary, only applies to the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days each year.

Political Backing and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was backed by MPs from the ruling centre-right party, with the centre-left faction – now the primary opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized two general strikes calling for the law's repeal this month that brought public transport and public services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister supported the legislation, claiming the changes align national legislation with modern employment realities, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will provide employees the choice to accept additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

This follows EU working-time regulations, which limit the average week to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Responses

However, opposition parties have accused the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the country back to a medieval work era." They say Greek workers already work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union stated variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Labor Reforms and Economic Background

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day working week for certain industries in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of July, permit employees to labor up to 48 hours in a week as instead of 40.

EU Work Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, the nation's national minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August versus an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but wages and living standards remain among the poorest in the EU.