🔗 Share this article

Government Building

Greece's legislature has ratified a hotly debated labor reform that enables extended-length work shifts, despite widespread resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials claimed the measure will modernize the country's work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the New Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved law, yearly overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour week remains in place.

Officials insists that the extended shift is optional, solely applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was supported by MPs from the governing centre-right political group, with the moderate faction – currently the primary resistance – voting against the bill, while the progressive group abstained.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal this month that halted transportation and public services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Employee Protections

A senior official defended the legislation, stating the reforms bring in line Greek legislation with current employment conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will give workers the choice to accept additional hours with the current company for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for refusing extra hours.

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

Critical Perspectives and Union Responses

But, critics have accused the administration of weakening employee protections and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They say Greek employees currently work longer hours than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Recent Workplace Changes and Economic Context

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a attempt to boost the economy.

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, permit workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

EU Work Data and National Economic Metrics

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the highest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting this year, the nation's official minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at 28% during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in recent years, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.