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Government Building

The Greek parliament has given the green light a hotly debated work legislation that permits 13-hour work shifts, despite fierce opposition and nationwide protests.

The administration asserted the measure will revamp Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive party described it as a "harmful law."

Main Provisions of the New Labor Law

According to the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour week stays unchanged.

The government maintains that the extended workday is voluntary, only applies to the business sector, and can only be used for up to 37 days annually.

Political Support and Resistance

Thursday's ballot was backed by lawmakers from the governing centre-right party, with the moderate faction – currently the primary resistance – voting against the legislation, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged multiple protests demanding the bill's withdrawal this month that brought public transport and public services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister supported the bill, claiming the reforms bring in line Greek laws with modern employment conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the public.

The laws will provide workers the choice to accept additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for declining overtime.

The measure complies with European Union working-time regulations, which cap the mean workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but permit flexibility over a year, according to the government.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Responses

But, opposition parties have charged the government of weakening employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local workers already put in more time than most EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Context

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day working week for certain industries in a bid to boost economic growth.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the start of July, allow workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

European Work Statistics and National Economic Metrics

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, Greece's national base pay was €968 a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.