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Government Building

Greece's parliament has ratified a hotly debated work legislation that permits extended-length work shifts, in the face of strong opposition and countrywide protests.

Government officials claimed the measure will update the country's work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Elements of the New Work Legislation

According to the newly enacted legislation, annual extra hours is also at 150 hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek remains in place.

The government maintains that the longer shift is optional, solely applies to the business sector, and can only be implemented for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Backing and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was backed by MPs from the governing centre-right political group, with the moderate party – now the main resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing group abstained.

Labor unions have staged two general strikes demanding the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and public services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister supported the bill, saying the changes align national legislation with current employment realities, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will provide workers the choice to take on extra work with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for declining overtime.

This follows European Union labor rules, which limit the mean workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Reactions

However, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They say Greek workers already work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said variable shifts 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 Financial Background

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

New legislation, which started at the start of July, allow employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

EU Labor Statistics and Greek Economic Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, the nation's national minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking 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 the summer versus an EU average of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office show.
• Greece is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the poorest in the EU.