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Government Building

Greece's parliament has ratified a disputed labor reform that permits extended-length work shifts, despite fierce resistance and nationwide protests.

The administration stated the measure will update the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the left-wing faction described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

Under the newly enacted legislation, yearly extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek continues as before.

The government emphasizes that the longer shift is elective, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – now the main resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing party abstained.

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

Government Defense and Employee Safeguards

A senior official supported the legislation, claiming the reforms bring in line Greek legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the public.

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

This complies with EU working-time regulations, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours including extra hours but permit adjustments over 12 months, according to the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Responses

But, critics have accused the government of weakening workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say Greek workers currently put in more time than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Context

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

New legislation, which started at the beginning of the summer, permit workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

European Work Data and Greek Economic Indicators

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the longest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• As of this year, Greece's national base pay stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.