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Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a contentious work legislation that authorizes extended-length work shifts, in the face of strong resistance and nationwide protests.

Government officials claimed the law will update the country's labor regulations, but opposition figures from the left-wing faction described it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the freshly approved legislation, annual overtime is also at 150 hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials emphasizes that the extended shift is elective, only affects the business sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the ruling centre-right party, with the moderate party – currently the main opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

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

Government Defense and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, saying the reforms align national laws with current labor-market realities, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will provide employees the option to accept extra work with the current company for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows European Union labor rules, which limit the average workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Reactions

But, opposition parties have accused the administration of eroding employee protections and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local workers currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Economic Background

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

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the start of the summer, allow workers to labor up to 48 hours in a week as opposed to forty.

European Work Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the highest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• Starting this year, the nation's official minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August versus an European mean of 5.9%, data from the statistical office show.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the poorest in the European Union.