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Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a hotly debated work legislation that enables 13-hour working days, despite strong resistance and nationwide strike actions.

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

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

Under the newly enacted legislation, annual extra hours is also at 150 hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek remains in place.

Officials insists that the longer workday is voluntary, solely applies to the private sector, and can only be used for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

Thursday's ballot was supported by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left faction – now the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group did not vote.

Labor unions have staged multiple protests demanding the law's repeal recently that brought public transport and services to a stop.

Official Defense and Worker Safeguards

A senior official supported the bill, saying the reforms bring in line Greek legislation with modern employment realities, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the citizens.

These regulations will give employees the choice to take on additional hours with the current company for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for declining overtime.

The measure complies with EU working-time regulations, which cap the average workweek to forty-eight hours including extra hours but permit adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Responses

However, opposition parties have accused the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local employees already work longer hours than most EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Financial Context

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

Recent laws, which started at the beginning of the summer, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a week as instead of 40.

European Work Statistics and Greek Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in 2024, the highest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's national minimum wage was €968 a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an European mean of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the EU.