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Government Building

The Greek parliament has approved a disputed work legislation that enables extended-length working days, despite strong opposition and nationwide strike actions.

The administration stated the measure will revamp the country's labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the freshly approved law, annual extra hours is also at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials insists that the extended shift is elective, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days annually.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was supported by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left party – currently the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that brought transportation and services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Worker Protections

A senior official defended the bill, stating the changes bring in line national laws with modern employment realities, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the public.

The laws will provide employees the choice to accept extra work with the same employer for increased pay, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

The measure complies with EU labor rules, which limit the mean workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but permit adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the government.

Opposition Viewpoints and Labor Responses

However, critics have charged the government of eroding employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They argue Greek workers currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

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

Previous Workplace Changes and Financial Context

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day work schedule for specific sectors in a attempt to boost economic growth.

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

EU Labor Data and National Economic Indicators

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the highest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official minimum wage was €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August compared with an European mean of 5.9%, data from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is improving since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.