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Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a hotly debated work legislation that permits extended-length work shifts, in the face of widespread resistance and countrywide strike actions.

The administration asserted the law will revamp the country's labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "harmful law."

Key Elements of the New Labor Law

Under the freshly approved legislation, yearly extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour week remains in place.

The government maintains that the extended workday is voluntary, solely applies to the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

The recent vote was supported by lawmakers from the ruling conservative political group, with the moderate party – currently the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive party did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Official Justification and Employee Protections

A senior official supported the legislation, saying the reforms align Greek legislation with modern employment conditions, and alleged critics of misleading the citizens.

These regulations will provide workers the option to accept extra work with the same employer for increased pay, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for refusing overtime.

The measure follows EU labor rules, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, according to the government.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Reactions

But, opposition parties have charged the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They argue local employees already put in more time than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

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

Recent Workplace Changes and Financial Background

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

Recent laws, which came into effect at the start of the summer, permit employees to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

European Work Data and National Financial Indicators

• Across the European Union in 2024, the highest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's national minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an European mean of 5.9%, data from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is improving since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.