🔗 Share this article

Government Building

The Greek legislature has ratified a disputed labor reform that authorizes 13-hour working days, despite strong opposition and countrywide protests.

The administration stated the measure will revamp Greek work laws, but critics from the progressive faction labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

Under the freshly approved legislation, annual overtime is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government insists that the longer workday is voluntary, solely affects the business sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days annually.

Parliamentary Backing and Opposition

The recent vote was supported by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the moderate party – currently the primary opposition – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal recently that brought transportation and public services to a stop.

Official Defense and Worker Protections

A senior official supported the legislation, stating the changes bring in line Greek laws with current employment realities, and alleged critics of misinforming the public.

These regulations will provide employees the choice to take on additional hours with the current company for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

This complies with European Union working-time rules, which limit the average week to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses

But, opposition parties have accused the administration of eroding employee protections and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They say Greek employees already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization said flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the disruption of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Changes and Economic Context

Last year, Greece introduced a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a bid to boost economic growth.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, allow workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

EU Labor Data and National Economic Indicators

• Across the EU in 2024, the highest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, Greece's national minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August compared with an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which ended in recent years, but wages and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.