Greece Enacts Debated Workplace Legislation Permitting Extended Working Days in Specific Cases

Government Building

The Greek legislature has ratified a hotly debated work legislation that enables extended-length working days, despite widespread resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials claimed the measure will revamp the country's work laws, but critics from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "harmful law."

Main Elements of the New Work Legislation

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

Officials emphasizes that the longer workday is optional, solely applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Political Backing and Resistance

Thursday's ballot was supported by lawmakers from the governing conservative party, with the centre-left faction – now the primary resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

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

Official Justification and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the bill, stating the changes bring in line national laws with current employment realities, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will give employees the option to accept extra work with the current company for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for declining overtime.

The measure complies with EU labor regulations, which limit the average workweek to 48 hours counting extra hours but permit adjustments over a year, as stated by the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Union Responses

However, opposition parties have accused the administration of weakening employee protections and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They say local employees currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Background

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day working week for certain sectors in a bid to boost the economy.

New laws, which started at the start of the summer, permit employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

European Work Statistics and Greek Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, the nation's national minimum wage stood at €968 a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an European mean of 5.9%, data from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is recovering since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but wages and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.