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Government Building

Greece's legislature has ratified a contentious work legislation that authorizes 13-hour working days, in the face of widespread opposition and countrywide protests.

Government officials asserted the measure will update Greek work laws, but critics from the progressive faction described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the newly enacted law, annual extra hours is capped at 150 hours, while the regular 40-hour week stays unchanged.

The government insists that the extended shift is voluntary, solely applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Opposition

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the centre-left faction – currently the primary opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive party abstained.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests demanding the law's repeal this month that halted public transport and services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the bill, claiming the reforms align Greek laws with modern labor-market realities, and accused critics of misleading the citizens.

These regulations will give employees the choice to take on additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for refusing overtime.

This complies with EU labor regulations, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, according to the government.

Critical Perspectives and Union Responses

However, critics have accused the administration of weakening workers' rights and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They argue local employees already work longer hours than most Europeans while earning less 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 legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Changes and Economic Background

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for specific sectors in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

New laws, which came into effect at the beginning of July, allow employees to work up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

EU Labor Data and Greek Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in 2024, the highest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, the nation's national base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in the summer versus an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat show.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but salaries and quality of life continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.