The Greek Parliament Passes Debated Labor Law Authorizing Extended Workdays in Specific Situations

Government Building

The Greek legislature has approved a disputed work legislation that authorizes 13-hour work shifts, despite strong resistance and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials asserted the law will update Greek labor regulations, but critics from the progressive party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the newly enacted law, annual extra hours is capped at 150 hours, while the standard 40-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government maintains that the extended workday is optional, only affects the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

The recent ballot was supported by lawmakers from the governing conservative political group, with the moderate faction – currently the main opposition – rejecting the bill, while the progressive group abstained.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests demanding the law's repeal recently that brought transportation and public services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Worker Safeguards

A senior official defended the bill, saying the reforms align national laws with modern employment conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the public.

The laws will provide employees the choice to accept additional hours with the current company for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

This complies with EU working-time rules, which limit the mean workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but allow adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Union Reactions

However, opposition parties have charged the government of eroding employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They argue local workers already work longer hours than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Economic Background

Last year, the country enacted a six-day working week for certain sectors in a attempt to boost the economy.

Recent legislation, which started at the beginning of the summer, permit employees to work up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

European Labor Statistics and National Economic Indicators

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the highest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, the nation's national minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the EU.