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Government Building

The Greek legislature has ratified a hotly debated labor reform that permits extended-length work shifts, in the face of fierce resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials asserted the law will revamp Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted legislation, annual extra hours is capped at 150 hours, while the regular forty-hour week remains in place.

Officials emphasizes that the longer workday is elective, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left faction – currently the main opposition – voting against the legislation, while the left-wing group abstained.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Employee Protections

A senior official supported the bill, claiming the reforms align national legislation with current labor-market conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

These regulations will give workers the option to take on extra work with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for refusing overtime.

The measure complies with European Union working-time rules, which cap the mean week to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, according to the government.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Responses

However, opposition parties have accused the government of eroding employee protections and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees currently put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Changes and Financial Background

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

New laws, which started at the beginning of July, allow workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

EU Labor Statistics and Greek Financial Metrics

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the longest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, the nation's national base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• 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 financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but wages and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.