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Government Building

Greece's parliament has ratified a contentious labor reform that authorizes 13-hour working days, in the face of widespread resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials claimed the measure will revamp the country's work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is capped at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials emphasizes that the extended shift is elective, only applies to the business sector, and can only be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

Thursday's vote was supported by MPs from the ruling centre-right political group, with the moderate faction – currently the primary opposition – voting against the legislation, while the left-wing party abstained.

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

Official Defense and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, claiming the changes bring in line national laws with modern labor-market conditions, and accused critics of misleading the citizens.

These regulations will provide employees the option to accept additional hours with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for declining extra hours.

The measure complies with EU labor rules, which limit the mean workweek to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, according to the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Responses

However, opposition parties have charged the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local workers currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Economic Background

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day working week for specific sectors in a attempt to stimulate the economy.

New legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, permit workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a week as opposed to forty.

European Labor Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the longest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's national minimum wage stood at €968 a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August versus an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.