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Government Building

The Greek legislature has approved a disputed work legislation that permits 13-hour working days, in the face of widespread resistance and nationwide protests.

Government officials claimed the measure will modernize the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive faction described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Elements of the New Labor Law

According to the freshly approved law, annual extra hours is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials maintains that the extended workday is optional, only applies to the private sector, and can only be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Political Backing and Resistance

Thursday's vote was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right party, with the centre-left faction – now the main resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party abstained.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted public transport and public services to a stop.

Official Defense and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister supported the bill, claiming the changes bring in line national legislation with current labor-market conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will provide workers the option to accept extra work with the same employer for increased pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows European Union working-time rules, which limit the mean workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit adjustments over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Reactions

But, opposition parties have charged the government of eroding workers' rights and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They argue 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 flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Recent Workplace Reforms and Economic Background

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day working week for specific sectors in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

New laws, which started at the beginning of the summer, allow workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

EU Labor Statistics and Greek Economic Metrics

• Across the EU in 2024, the longest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, 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 January 2025, the nation's official base pay was €968 a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in August compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the poorest in the EU.