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Greece's legislature has given the green light a hotly debated work legislation that authorizes extended-length working days, in the face of fierce opposition and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials asserted the law will update Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Main Elements of the New Work Legislation

According to the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials emphasizes that the extended shift is voluntary, solely applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

Thursday's vote was supported by lawmakers from the governing conservative party, with the centre-left party – now the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Labor unions have staged multiple protests demanding the bill's withdrawal recently that halted public transport and services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister defended the bill, stating the changes bring in line Greek legislation with current labor-market realities, and alleged critics of misinforming the public.

The laws will give workers the option to take on extra work with the same employer for increased pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for refusing overtime.

The measure complies with European Union labor regulations, which limit the mean week to forty-eight hours counting overtime but allow adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Reactions

But, critics have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek workers currently work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

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

Recent Labor Changes and Financial Context

In 2024, the country enacted a six-day working week for specific industries in a attempt to boost economic growth.

New laws, which started at the beginning of July, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

European Work Statistics and Greek Financial Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the highest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at 28% during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in the summer versus an EU average of 5.9%, data from Eurostat indicate.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.