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Government Building

Greece's legislature has given the green light a disputed work legislation that enables 13-hour working days, despite widespread opposition and nationwide protests.

Government officials stated the law will modernize the country's work laws, but critics from the progressive party described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the New Work Legislation

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

Officials emphasizes that the longer shift is optional, only affects the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

Thursday's vote was supported by MPs from the governing centre-right political group, with the moderate party – now the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted public transport and services to a stop.

Official Justification and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister defended the bill, claiming the changes align Greek laws with current employment conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the citizens.

The laws will provide workers the choice to accept additional hours with the current company for increased pay, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for declining extra hours.

This follows EU labor rules, which cap the average workweek to 48 hours including overtime but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Reactions

But, critics have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "pushing the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Recent Workplace Reforms and Financial Background

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to boost the economy.

New laws, which came into effect at the start of July, permit employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

European Work Statistics and Greek Financial Metrics

• Across the European Union in 2024, the longest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the European Union.