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Government Building

The Greek legislature has ratified a hotly debated labor reform that permits extended-length work shifts, despite widespread opposition and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials stated the measure will modernize Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the newly enacted legislation, yearly extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government emphasizes that the extended workday is voluntary, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Political Backing and Resistance

Thursday's vote was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the moderate faction – now the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing party abstained.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal recently that brought public transport and public services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Employee Protections

A senior official supported the bill, stating the changes bring in line national laws with modern employment realities, and alleged critics of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will give employees the choice to take on extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

The measure complies with EU working-time rules, which cap the average workweek to 48 hours including overtime but permit flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Perspectives and Union Responses

However, opposition parties have charged the government of weakening workers' rights and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local employees already put in more time than most Europeans while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the authorization of excessive labor."

Recent Workplace Changes and Financial Background

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day working week for certain industries in a attempt to boost the economy.

Recent laws, which started at the beginning of the summer, allow workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

EU Labor Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the longest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, the nation's national base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in August compared with an EU average of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and quality of life remain among the poorest in the EU.