🔗 Share this article

Government Building

The Greek legislature has ratified a contentious work legislation that authorizes 13-hour work shifts, in the face of strong resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials stated the measure will update the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Elements of the New Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved law, annual extra hours is limited at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour week remains in place.

The government insists that the extended shift is elective, only affects the private sector, and can only be implemented for up to 37 days annually.

Political Backing and Opposition

Thursday's vote was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative political group, with the centre-left faction – now the main resistance – voting against the legislation, while the progressive party abstained.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests demanding the bill's withdrawal recently that brought public transport and public services to a stop.

Government Defense and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the legislation, claiming the reforms bring in line Greek legislation with current labor-market realities, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the citizens.

The laws will provide employees the choice to accept extra work with the current company for increased pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for refusing extra hours.

The measure complies with EU working-time rules, which cap the average week to forty-eight hours including overtime but allow flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Responses

However, opposition parties have charged the government of weakening employee protections and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They say local employees currently put in more time than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Recent Workplace Reforms and Economic Background

Last year, Greece introduced a six-day working week for certain sectors in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

Recent legislation, which started at the beginning of July, allow workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a week as opposed to 40.

EU Labor Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in 2024, the highest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• As of this year, Greece's national base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked 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, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is recovering since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but salaries and quality of life remain among the lowest in the European Union.