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Government Building

The Greek parliament has given the green light a contentious labor reform that enables extended-length work shifts, despite widespread resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials stated the measure will modernize Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

Under the newly enacted legislation, yearly extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour week remains in place.

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

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

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

Worker organizations have organized two general strikes demanding the law's repeal this month that halted public transport and services to a stop.

Official Justification and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the bill, claiming the reforms align Greek laws with current employment realities, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

The laws will give employees the option to take on extra work with the current company for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows EU labor regulations, which cap the mean week to 48 hours including extra hours but permit adjustments over 12 months, according to the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Reactions

But, opposition parties have charged the government of weakening workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local employees already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Reforms and Financial Context

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day work schedule for specific sectors in a attempt to boost the economy.

New legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of July, permit workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

European Work Data and National Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, the nation's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.