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Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a hotly debated work legislation that enables extended-length work shifts, despite fierce resistance and nationwide protests.

The administration asserted the measure will revamp Greek labor regulations, but critics from the progressive party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted law, annual overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour week continues as before.

The government emphasizes that the extended shift is voluntary, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

The recent vote was supported by MPs from the ruling centre-right party, with the moderate party – now the main opposition – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Worker organizations have organized two general strikes demanding the law's repeal this month that halted public transport and public services to a stop.

Official Defense and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the bill, claiming the reforms bring in line Greek legislation with current employment conditions, and accused critics of misleading the public.

These regulations will provide workers the choice to accept extra work with the current company for increased compensation, while ensuring they will not be fired for declining overtime.

This follows European Union labor regulations, which cap the mean week to 48 hours counting overtime but permit adjustments over a year, according to the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Reactions

However, critics have accused the government of eroding employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue local workers already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens 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 standard workday, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Workplace Changes and Economic Context

Last year, the country introduced a six-day working week for certain industries in a attempt to boost economic growth.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the start of the summer, permit workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

EU Work Data and National Economic Indicators

• Across the EU in 2024, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• Starting this year, the nation's official minimum wage was €968 a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.