Greece Passes Controversial Labor Law Allowing Longer Workdays in Certain Circumstances

Government Building

Greece's legislature has ratified a disputed labor reform that enables extended-length working days, despite strong resistance and countrywide protests.

The administration claimed the law will modernize the country's work laws, but critics from the left-wing party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted legislation, yearly extra hours is also at 150 hours, while the regular forty-hour week continues as before.

Officials insists that the extended workday is optional, only applies to the business sector, and can only be implemented for up to 37 days annually.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the moderate faction – currently the main resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party abstained.

Labor unions have staged multiple protests demanding the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and services to a stop.

Government Defense and Worker Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, claiming the changes bring in line Greek legislation with modern employment realities, and alleged critics of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will provide employees the option to accept additional hours with the current company for increased pay, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

This complies with European Union labor regulations, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit adjustments over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Reactions

But, critics have accused the government of weakening workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue local workers already put in more time than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Context

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for certain industries in a attempt to boost the economy.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the start of the summer, allow employees to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

European Work Data and Greek Financial Indicators

• Across the European Union in 2024, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• As of this year, the nation's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked 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 the statistical office show.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the EU.