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Government Building

The Greek parliament has approved a contentious labor reform that enables extended-length work shifts, in the face of widespread resistance and countrywide protests.

Government officials claimed the law will revamp Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive party described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the New Labor Law

According to the freshly approved legislation, yearly overtime is also at 150 hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials emphasizes that the extended shift is elective, solely affects the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Political Backing and Resistance

Thursday's vote was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left faction – currently the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing party did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal recently that brought transportation and services to a stop.

Government Defense and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, claiming the changes bring in line national laws with modern labor-market realities, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the public.

The laws will provide employees the choice to take on extra work with the same employer for increased compensation, while ensuring they cannot be fired for refusing overtime.

The measure follows European Union labor rules, which limit the mean week to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over a year, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Reactions

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

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

Recent Labor Changes and Financial Background

Last year, Greece introduced a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to boost the economy.

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

European Labor Data and National Economic Metrics

• Across the European Union in 2024, the highest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, Greece's official base pay stood at €968 a month, placing it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is improving since its prolonged financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but wages and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.