🔗 Share this article

Government Building

Greece's legislature has given the green light a hotly debated labor reform that enables 13-hour working days, despite widespread opposition and nationwide protests.

The administration claimed the law will revamp the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the left-wing party described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the newly enacted legislation, yearly extra hours is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials emphasizes that the extended shift is elective, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Backing and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was supported by lawmakers from the ruling conservative political group, with the moderate faction – currently the primary opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive party abstained.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests calling for the law's repeal recently that halted public transport and public services to a stop.

Official Defense and Employee Safeguards

A senior official defended the bill, saying the changes bring in line Greek laws with modern employment realities, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

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

The measure follows EU labor rules, which cap the average week to forty-eight hours including overtime but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

But, critics have charged the government of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek workers already put in more time than most Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Changes and Financial Context

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

New legislation, which started at the beginning of the summer, permit employees to work up to 48 hours in a week as instead of 40.

EU Labor Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the longest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, the nation's official base pay was €968 a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in August versus an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from the statistical office show.
• The country is recovering since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and quality of life remain among the lowest in the EU.