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Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a hotly debated labor reform that authorizes extended-length working days, in the face of widespread opposition and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials stated the measure will update the country's work laws, but critics from the left-wing faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Provisions of the New Work Legislation

According to the newly enacted law, annual extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials maintains that the longer workday is voluntary, only affects the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days annually.

Political Backing and Resistance

Thursday's vote was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative party, with the centre-left party – currently the primary resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized two general strikes calling for the law's repeal recently that brought public transport and services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, claiming the changes align national laws with current labor-market realities, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the public.

The laws will provide workers the choice to accept additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for declining overtime.

This follows European Union labor rules, which limit the mean workweek to 48 hours counting extra hours but allow flexibility over 12 months, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Reactions

However, opposition parties have accused the government of eroding employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a medieval work era." They say Greek workers already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in reality mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Changes and Financial Context

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a attempt to boost the economy.

New legislation, which started at the beginning of the summer, permit employees to labor up to 48 hours in a week as instead of 40.

European Work Statistics and Greek Economic Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the highest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, Greece's official base pay stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the European Union.