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Government Building

The Greek parliament has approved a hotly debated work legislation that permits extended-length work shifts, in the face of strong resistance and countrywide protests.

The administration stated the law will revamp Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the freshly approved legislation, yearly overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek continues as before.

The government maintains that the extended workday is elective, solely applies to the business sector, and can only be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the moderate party – currently the primary resistance – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group did not vote.

Labor unions have staged multiple protests calling for the law's repeal this month that halted transportation and services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Worker Safeguards

A senior official supported the legislation, saying the changes align Greek legislation with current labor-market conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will give employees the choice to take on additional hours with the current company for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows European Union labor regulations, which cap the average week to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Labor Responses

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

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Recent Labor Changes and Financial Context

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for certain sectors in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

New legislation, which started at the start of July, allow workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a week as opposed to forty.

European Labor Data and National Financial Metrics

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the highest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's national base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an EU average of 5.9%, data from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards remain among the lowest in the EU.