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Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a hotly debated work legislation that authorizes extended-length working days, in the face of fierce resistance and countrywide protests.

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

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the freshly approved law, annual extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government maintains that the longer workday is elective, solely applies to the business sector, and can only be implemented for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Opposition

The recent vote was supported by MPs from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left party – currently the main resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests demanding the law's repeal this month that halted public transport and public services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Employee Protections

A senior official defended the legislation, stating the changes align Greek laws with modern labor-market conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will give employees the option to accept extra work with the current company for increased pay, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for refusing overtime.

This follows European Union labor regulations, which limit the mean week to 48 hours including overtime but allow adjustments over 12 months, according to the government.

Critical Perspectives and Union Reactions

But, critics have accused the administration of weakening employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They argue local employees currently work longer hours than most Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Financial Context

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

New legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, allow workers to work up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

European Labor Data and National Financial Indicators

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the highest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August versus an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.