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Government Building

The Greek legislature has ratified a disputed labor reform that permits extended-length work shifts, despite strong resistance and countrywide protests.

Government officials claimed the measure will update the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved law, yearly extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour week continues as before.

The government insists that the extended shift is voluntary, solely applies to the business sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days annually.

Political Backing and Resistance

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the governing centre-right political group, with the moderate party – currently the primary opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group did not vote.

Labor unions have staged two general strikes calling for the law's repeal this month that brought transportation and services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Worker Protections

A senior official supported the legislation, claiming the reforms align national laws with modern employment conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the public.

The laws will give employees the choice to take on additional hours with the same employer for increased compensation, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for declining overtime.

The measure follows EU labor rules, which cap the mean week to forty-eight hours including overtime but permit flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

But, critics have accused the administration of weakening workers' rights and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They say Greek employees currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Context

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

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

EU Work Statistics and Greek Economic Indicators

• Across the EU in 2024, the longest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to EU statistics.
• Starting this year, Greece's national minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, 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 the statistical office indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but salaries and living standards remain among the poorest in the European Union.