The Greek Parliament Passes Controversial Labor Legislation Allowing 13-Hour Workdays in Specific Cases

Government Building

Greece's parliament has approved a contentious labor reform that enables extended-length work shifts, in the face of strong resistance and countrywide protests.

The administration asserted the law will revamp the country's work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour week continues as before.

Officials emphasizes that the extended workday is optional, solely applies to the private sector, and can only be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

Thursday's vote was supported by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right party, with the centre-left party – now the main opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive party abstained.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes demanding the law's repeal recently that halted public transport and services to a stop.

Official Justification and Worker Safeguards

A senior official supported the bill, saying the changes align Greek laws with current labor-market conditions, and alleged critics of misleading the citizens.

The laws will provide employees the choice to take on extra work with the current company for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they will not be fired for refusing extra hours.

The measure complies with EU working-time rules, which cap the mean week to forty-eight hours counting overtime but permit flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Responses

But, opposition parties have charged the administration of eroding workers' rights and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They argue local workers already put in more time than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Labor Changes and Economic Background

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for certain sectors in a bid to stimulate the economy.

New laws, which started at the start of July, permit workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a week as opposed to 40.

European Labor Data and National Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the highest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's official minimum wage stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the poorest in the EU.