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Government Building

Greece's parliament has approved a contentious work legislation that enables 13-hour working days, in the face of strong resistance and countrywide protests.

The administration asserted the law will update Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Elements of the New Work Legislation

Under the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is also at 150 hours, while the regular 40-hour week remains in place.

The government insists that the longer shift is voluntary, solely affects the business sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Political Backing and Opposition

The recent ballot was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left faction – currently the primary opposition – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party abstained.

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

Government Justification and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, saying the reforms bring in line Greek laws with current employment conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will provide workers the choice to take on additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for declining extra hours.

The measure follows European Union labor rules, which limit the mean workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses

However, opposition parties have accused the administration of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees currently put in more time than most Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Economic Background

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day working week for specific sectors in a bid to boost economic growth.

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

EU Labor Data and National Economic Metrics

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's national minimum wage was €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat show.
• Greece is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and quality of life remain among the lowest in the European Union.