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Government Building

The Greek legislature has approved a contentious labor reform that authorizes extended-length working days, despite fierce opposition and countrywide strike actions.

The administration stated the law will revamp Greek work laws, but critics from the left-wing party described it as a "harmful law."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted law, yearly overtime is also at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek remains in place.

Officials emphasizes that the longer workday is voluntary, only affects the private sector, and can only be applied for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – currently the primary resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party abstained.

Worker organizations have organized two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal recently that brought transportation and services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the bill, stating the reforms bring in line Greek laws with modern employment conditions, and alleged critics of misleading the public.

The laws will give employees the option to accept additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours.

This complies with EU working-time rules, which limit the mean workweek to forty-eight hours counting overtime but permit flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Reactions

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

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Financial Background

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day working week for certain sectors in a attempt to stimulate the economy.

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, permit employees to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

European Work Statistics and National Financial Metrics

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official minimum wage stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.