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Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a hotly debated labor reform that permits 13-hour working days, in the face of widespread resistance and nationwide strike actions.

The administration claimed the measure will revamp the country's work laws, but critics from the left-wing party labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted legislation, yearly extra hours is also at 150 hours, while the regular 40-hour week stays unchanged.

Officials emphasizes that the longer shift is elective, only affects the business sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Opposition

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative party, with the centre-left faction – now the primary resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing group abstained.

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

Government Defense and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, saying the reforms bring in line Greek laws with modern employment conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

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

This follows European Union labor rules, which limit the mean week to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but allow adjustments over 12 months, according to the administration.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Reactions

However, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They say Greek workers currently put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Economic Background

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day working week for specific sectors in a attempt to boost economic growth.

New laws, which started at the start of July, allow employees to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

EU Labor Statistics and Greek Financial Metrics

• Across the European Union in 2024, the highest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, the nation's national base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but salaries and quality of life remain among the poorest in the EU.