The Greek Parliament Approves Disputed Labor Legislation Allowing Extended Workdays in Certain Cases

Government Building

Greece's parliament has ratified a disputed labor reform that permits extended-length working days, in the face of widespread opposition and countrywide protests.

Government officials asserted the law will revamp the country's work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive party described it as a "harmful law."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the freshly approved legislation, annual extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour week stays unchanged.

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

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was supported by MPs from the ruling conservative party, with the centre-left faction – now the main resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party abstained.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted public transport and services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister supported the bill, saying the reforms align national laws with current employment conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

The laws will give employees the choice to accept extra work with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for declining overtime.

The measure complies with EU working-time regulations, which cap the mean workweek to 48 hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, according to the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Reactions

But, critics have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They argue Greek workers already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization said flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Recent Labor Reforms and Economic Context

Last year, the country enacted a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

Recent legislation, which started at the beginning of the summer, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a week as instead of 40.

European Work Data and Greek Economic Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the highest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's national base pay stood at 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 financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer versus an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and quality of life remain among the poorest in the EU.