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Government Building

The Greek legislature has given the green light a hotly debated work legislation that authorizes 13-hour working days, in the face of fierce opposition and countrywide protests.

Government officials asserted the law will modernize Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Main Provisions of the New Work Legislation

Under the newly enacted law, yearly overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour week continues as before.

Officials emphasizes that the extended workday is voluntary, solely affects the business sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days annually.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was supported by lawmakers from the ruling conservative political group, with the centre-left party – now the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Labor unions have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal recently that brought public transport and public services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister supported the legislation, stating the reforms align Greek laws with current labor-market realities, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will give employees the option to accept additional hours with the current company for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they cannot be fired for declining overtime.

The measure follows European Union labor regulations, which cap the average workweek to forty-eight hours counting overtime but permit flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Responses

However, critics have charged the government of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say Greek workers already put in more time than most Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Reforms and Financial Context

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day working week for specific sectors in a bid to boost economic growth.

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

European Work Statistics and National Financial Metrics

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the longest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's national base pay was €968 a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• 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%, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.