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Government Building

The Greek parliament has given the green light a disputed labor reform that enables extended-length working days, in the face of strong resistance and countrywide strike actions.

The administration asserted the law will revamp the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted law, annual overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour week continues as before.

The government insists that the extended workday is voluntary, only affects the business sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

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

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

Government Justification and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister supported the bill, stating the reforms bring in line Greek legislation with current labor-market conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the citizens.

These regulations will provide workers the choice to take on additional hours with the same employer for increased pay, while ensuring they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours.

This complies with EU labor regulations, which limit the average week to forty-eight hours counting overtime but permit adjustments over a year, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses

However, critics have accused the government of eroding employee protections and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They say local employees currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Recent Workplace Changes and Financial Background

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day work schedule for specific sectors in a attempt to boost economic growth.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the start of the summer, permit employees to labor up to 48 hours in a week as instead of forty.

EU Work Data and National Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in 2024, the highest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, Greece's national base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer versus an European mean of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the European Union.