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Government Building

The Greek parliament has ratified a contentious labor reform that permits extended-length work shifts, despite strong opposition and countrywide strike actions.

The administration claimed the law will update the country's work laws, but critics from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Elements of the New Labor Law

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

The government maintains that the extended workday is optional, solely applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Opposition

The recent ballot was supported by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right party, with the moderate party – now the primary resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes calling for the law's repeal recently that brought public transport and services to a stop.

Official Justification and Worker Protections

A senior official defended the bill, stating the changes bring in line Greek laws with current labor-market conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

These regulations will provide employees the option to take on extra work with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they cannot be fired for refusing overtime.

The measure complies with EU working-time regulations, which cap the average week to 48 hours counting overtime but permit flexibility over 12 months, according to the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Reactions

But, critics have charged the government of eroding workers' rights and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees currently put in more time than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Changes and Economic Context

Last year, the country enacted a six-day working week for certain industries in a attempt to boost economic growth.

Recent laws, which started at the start of July, allow workers to labor up to 48 hours in a week as opposed to forty.

EU Labor Statistics and Greek Economic Metrics

• Across the EU in the previous year, the highest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• Starting this year, the nation's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from the statistical office show.
• The country is recovering since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards remain among the poorest in the European Union.