Greece Approves Controversial Labor Legislation Permitting 13-Hour Working Days in Specific Cases

Government Building

The Greek legislature has given the green light a disputed labor reform that permits 13-hour work shifts, in the face of widespread resistance and nationwide strike actions.

The administration claimed the law will update Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the freshly approved law, yearly overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek remains in place.

The government insists that the extended shift is optional, solely affects the business sector, and can only be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative political group, with the moderate party – currently the primary opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes calling for the law's repeal recently that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, stating the changes bring in line Greek laws with current labor-market realities, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the citizens.

The laws will provide employees the choice to accept extra work with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they will not be fired for refusing overtime.

This complies with EU labor regulations, which limit the average week to 48 hours counting extra hours but allow adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses

But, critics have charged the government of weakening workers' rights and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They say local employees 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 reality mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Changes and Economic Context

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

New laws, which started at the beginning of July, permit employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a week as opposed to forty.

European Work Statistics and National Economic Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest 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 Eurostat.
• As of this year, the nation's national minimum wage was €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but wages and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.