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Government Building

Greece's parliament has ratified a contentious work legislation that enables extended-length working days, in the face of widespread opposition and nationwide protests.

Government officials claimed the law will modernize the country's labor regulations, but critics from the progressive faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the New Labor Law

According to the freshly approved law, yearly overtime is also at 150 hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials insists that the extended shift is voluntary, solely applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was backed by lawmakers from the governing centre-right political group, with the centre-left faction – currently the main resistance – voting against the legislation, while the progressive party abstained.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that brought public transport and services to a stop.

Government Defense and Employee Safeguards

A senior official defended the bill, saying the reforms align national legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the public.

The laws will give employees the option to take on extra work with the current company for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they will not be fired for refusing overtime.

This complies with EU working-time rules, which cap the mean workweek to 48 hours counting extra hours but allow adjustments over 12 months, according to the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Union Reactions

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

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Background

Last year, the country introduced 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, allow employees to labor up to 48 hours in a week as opposed to forty.

European Work Data and Greek Economic Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the longest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August compared with an European mean of 5.9%, data from the statistical office show.
• Greece is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and living standards remain among the poorest in the European Union.