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Government Building

The Greek legislature has ratified a hotly debated labor reform that enables 13-hour working days, in the face of strong resistance and nationwide protests.

Government officials claimed the measure will modernize Greek work laws, but critics from the left-wing party described it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted legislation, yearly overtime is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials maintains that the longer workday is optional, only applies to the business sector, and can only be used for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was backed by lawmakers from the ruling conservative party, with the centre-left party – now the main resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Labor unions have staged two general strikes demanding the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the legislation, claiming the reforms align national legislation with modern labor-market realities, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

The laws will provide employees the option to accept extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they cannot be fired for declining overtime.

This complies with European Union working-time rules, which cap the mean week to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Responses

But, critics have charged the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say Greek workers currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Changes and Economic Background

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

Recent laws, which started at the start of July, allow workers to work up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

European Work Data and Greek Financial Indicators

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• Starting this year, the nation's official base pay was €968 a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the EU.