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Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a hotly debated labor reform that authorizes extended-length work shifts, in the face of widespread resistance and countrywide protests.

Government officials claimed the measure will modernize Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive faction labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved legislation, annual extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour week continues as before.

Officials insists that the extended shift is elective, only applies to the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was backed by lawmakers from the ruling conservative party, with the moderate faction – now the primary resistance – rejecting the bill, while the progressive party did not vote.

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

Government Justification and Employee Protections

A senior official defended the bill, stating the changes align Greek legislation with current labor-market conditions, and alleged critics of misleading the public.

The laws will give employees the option to take on additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for refusing overtime.

The measure complies with EU labor rules, which limit the average week to 48 hours counting overtime but permit adjustments over 12 months, according to the administration.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

However, critics have accused the government of eroding employee protections and "pushing the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek workers currently put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

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

Recent Labor Changes and Economic Context

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

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the start of July, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a week as instead of forty.

European Work Data and Greek Financial Indicators

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the highest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's national base pay stood at 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 financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August versus an EU average of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat show.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the poorest in the EU.