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Government Building

The Greek parliament has approved a hotly debated work legislation that enables extended-length work shifts, in the face of widespread resistance and countrywide protests.

The administration stated the law will update the country's work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved law, yearly extra hours is capped at 150 hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government emphasizes that the extended shift is voluntary, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was supported by lawmakers from the governing conservative political group, with the centre-left faction – now the main resistance – voting against the bill, while the left-wing group abstained.

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

Official Justification and Worker Protections

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

These regulations will give workers the option to accept additional hours with the same employer for increased pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for declining overtime.

The measure complies with European Union labor rules, which cap the mean workweek to 48 hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Responses

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

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Background

Last year, Greece introduced a six-day working week for certain industries in a bid to boost the economy.

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

European Labor Data and Greek Financial Metrics

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the highest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, the nation's national minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but salaries and quality of life remain among the lowest in the EU.