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Government Building

Greece's legislature has given the green light a hotly debated labor reform that authorizes extended-length work shifts, despite widespread opposition and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials stated the measure will modernize Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Main Provisions of the New Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved law, annual 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, solely affects the private sector, and can only be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by lawmakers from the governing conservative political group, with the moderate party – now the primary opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests demanding the bill's withdrawal recently that brought public transport and services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister supported the bill, claiming the reforms align national legislation with current labor-market realities, and accused critics of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will provide employees the option to accept extra work with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows European Union labor regulations, which limit the mean workweek to 48 hours including overtime but allow adjustments over a year, according to the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses

However, opposition parties have charged the government of weakening workers' rights and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Recent Workplace Reforms and Economic Context

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day working week for specific sectors in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

Recent legislation, which started at the beginning of the summer, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a week as instead of 40.

EU Work Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the highest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• As of this year, Greece's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August versus an EU average of 5.9%, data from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the EU.