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Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a contentious work legislation that enables 13-hour work shifts, despite strong resistance and countrywide protests.

Government officials claimed the measure will revamp Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is also at 150 hours, while the standard 40-hour week continues as before.

The government emphasizes that the longer workday is optional, solely applies to the business sector, and can only be used for up to 37 days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

The recent vote was supported by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the centre-left party – currently the primary opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive party did not vote.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests demanding the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the bill, saying the reforms align national legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the public.

The laws will give employees the choice to accept additional hours with the same employer for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for declining extra hours.

This complies with EU working-time rules, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow adjustments over 12 months, according to the government.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Reactions

But, critics have charged the government of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a medieval work era." They say Greek workers already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Recent Workplace Reforms and Economic Context

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day working week for certain sectors in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

Recent legislation, which started at the start of the summer, permit workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

European Work Data and National Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in 2024, the longest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, the nation's national base pay stood at €968 a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an EU average of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is recovering since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the European Union.