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Government Building

Greece's parliament has approved a contentious labor reform that authorizes 13-hour work shifts, despite strong resistance and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials stated the law will update the country's labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

Under the newly enacted legislation, annual overtime is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour week remains in place.

Officials emphasizes that the longer shift is optional, solely applies to the business sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was backed by MPs from the governing conservative political group, with the centre-left faction – now the primary resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Labor unions have staged multiple protests demanding the bill's withdrawal this month that halted public transport and services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the bill, stating the changes bring in line Greek laws with modern labor-market realities, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will provide workers the option to take on extra work with the current company for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows European Union working-time rules, which cap the average week to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Perspectives and Union Reactions

However, opposition parties have accused the administration of weakening workers' rights and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They say local workers already put in more time than most Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

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

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Background

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day working week for certain sectors in a attempt to boost economic growth.

Recent laws, which started at the start of July, allow workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

EU Work Statistics and Greek Financial Indicators

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the longest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, Greece's official minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer versus an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but salaries and living standards remain among the lowest in the EU.