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Government Building

The Greek legislature has given the green light a contentious work legislation that permits 13-hour working days, despite widespread opposition and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials stated the law will revamp Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the freshly approved law, yearly extra hours is limited at 150 hours, while the regular forty-hour week remains in place.

The government emphasizes that the extended workday is optional, solely affects the private sector, and can only be applied for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

The recent ballot was supported by MPs from the ruling centre-right party, with the moderate party – currently the primary resistance – voting against the legislation, while the left-wing party abstained.

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

Government Justification and Worker Protections

A senior official supported the legislation, saying the reforms bring in line Greek laws with modern employment realities, and alleged critics of misinforming the public.

The laws will give workers the option to take on extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for refusing overtime.

This follows EU working-time rules, which limit the average week to forty-eight hours counting overtime but permit adjustments over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

However, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a medieval work era." They say local employees currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Recent Workplace Changes and Financial Context

Last year, the country enacted a six-day working week for certain sectors in a bid to boost economic growth.

New legislation, which came into effect at the start of the summer, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a week as opposed to forty.

EU Labor Data and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the highest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting this year, the nation's official minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, data from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is improving since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but wages and quality of life remain among the lowest in the EU.