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Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a hotly debated work legislation that authorizes extended-length working days, in the face of fierce resistance and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials claimed the law will update Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved law, yearly extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour week stays unchanged.

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

Political Support and Opposition

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative party, with the centre-left party – now the primary opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing party did not vote.

Labor unions have staged two general strikes calling for the law's repeal this month that brought transportation and public services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, saying the reforms bring in line national legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will give employees the choice to take on extra work with the current company for increased compensation, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for refusing overtime.

The measure follows European Union labor regulations, which limit the mean workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but permit adjustments over a year, as stated by the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Reactions

However, critics have charged the government of eroding workers' rights and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek workers currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union stated variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Background

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to stimulate the economy.

New legislation, which started at the start of July, permit employees to labor up to 48 hours in a week as opposed to forty.

European Work Data and Greek Economic Indicators

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the longest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, Greece's official base pay stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an EU average of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat show.
• Greece is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the EU.