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Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a hotly debated work legislation that enables extended-length working days, in the face of fierce resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials claimed the measure will modernize the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive party described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Provisions of the New Work Legislation

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

The government insists that the extended shift is voluntary, solely affects the business sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

The recent ballot was supported by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – now the main resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes demanding the bill's withdrawal recently that brought transportation and public services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Worker Protections

A senior official defended the legislation, stating the changes bring in line Greek laws with current employment realities, and accused critics of misleading the citizens.

These regulations will give workers the option to accept extra work with the same employer for increased pay, while ensuring they cannot be fired for declining extra hours.

This complies with European Union labor rules, which limit the average workweek to forty-eight hours including overtime but permit adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Reactions

But, critics have accused the government of eroding employee protections and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They argue Greek workers currently work longer hours than most EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Context

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day working week for specific sectors in a bid to boost economic growth.

New legislation, which came into effect at the start of the summer, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a week as opposed to forty.

EU Work Data and Greek Financial Indicators

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the longest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official minimum wage was €968 a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August versus an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but wages and living standards remain among the poorest in the EU.