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Government Building

The Greek legislature has given the green light a disputed labor reform that enables 13-hour working days, despite fierce opposition and countrywide protests.

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

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted law, annual overtime is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek remains in place.

Officials emphasizes that the extended shift is elective, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days annually.

Political Backing and Resistance

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – currently the main opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive party abstained.

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

Government Defense and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the bill, stating the reforms bring in line Greek legislation with current employment conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

These regulations will provide workers the option to take on extra work with the same employer for increased compensation, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for declining extra hours.

This follows European Union labor rules, which cap the mean week to 48 hours including overtime but permit adjustments over a year, according to the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Responses

But, critics have accused the government of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They say local workers already work longer hours than most EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Recent Labor Reforms and Financial Context

Last year, Greece introduced a six-day working week for specific sectors in a attempt to boost economic growth.

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, permit employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

European Work Data and National Economic Metrics

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the highest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, Greece's official minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August versus an European mean of five point nine percent, data from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is improving since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but wages and quality of life remain among the lowest in the European Union.