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Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a contentious labor reform that authorizes 13-hour working days, despite widespread resistance and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials stated the law will revamp the country's work laws, but critics from the progressive party described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Elements of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour week remains in place.

The government emphasizes that the longer shift is voluntary, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days annually.

Parliamentary Backing and Opposition

The recent vote was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right party, with the centre-left party – currently the primary opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal this month that brought transportation and public services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, stating the changes bring in line Greek legislation with modern labor-market realities, and accused critics of misleading the citizens.

The laws will give workers the choice to accept additional hours with the same employer for increased pay, while ensuring they cannot be fired for declining extra hours.

This complies with European Union working-time rules, which limit the average week to 48 hours counting overtime but permit adjustments over a year, as stated by the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Responses

However, critics have charged the administration of eroding workers' rights and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees already work longer hours than most EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Changes and Economic Context

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day work schedule for certain sectors in a attempt to boost the economy.

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of July, permit employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

EU Labor Data and National Economic Indicators

• Across the European Union in 2024, the highest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, Greece's national base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August versus an EU average of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but wages and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.