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Government Building

Greece's legislature has given the green light a contentious labor reform that authorizes extended-length working days, despite widespread opposition and countrywide strike actions.

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

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

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

The government maintains that the longer shift is optional, only applies to the private sector, and can only be applied for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Political Backing and Opposition

The recent ballot was supported by MPs from the ruling conservative political group, with the moderate party – now the primary opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing group abstained.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests demanding the law's repeal this month that halted public transport and public services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, saying the reforms align national legislation with current employment conditions, and accused critics of misinforming the public.

The laws will provide workers the option to take on additional hours with the current company for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for declining extra hours.

The measure complies with EU labor rules, which cap the mean week to forty-eight hours including overtime but permit adjustments over a year, according to the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Labor Responses

However, critics have accused the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a medieval work era." They say local workers currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Recent Workplace Reforms and Financial Background

Last year, the country introduced a six-day working week for specific industries in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

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

EU Work Data and Greek Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the highest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's national base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer versus an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is improving since its prolonged financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and living standards remain among the poorest in the EU.