🔗 Share this article Greece Passes Debated Workplace Legislation Allowing 13-Hour Workdays in Specific Situations Government Building The Greek legislature has ratified a hotly debated work legislation that enables 13-hour work shifts, in the face of strong opposition and nationwide protests. Government officials claimed the measure will revamp Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the left-wing party labeled it as a "harmful law." Key Provisions of the New Labor Law According to the freshly approved law, yearly extra hours is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour week continues as before. The government maintains that the longer workday is voluntary, only affects the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days annually. Parliamentary Support and Resistance Thursday's ballot was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative political group, with the centre-left faction – now the main opposition – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party did not vote. Worker organizations have organized two general strikes calling for the law's repeal this month that halted transportation and services to a standstill. Government Justification and Worker Safeguards A senior official supported the bill, claiming the changes bring in line national laws with current labor-market realities, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the public. These regulations will provide employees the option to accept extra work with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for declining extra hours. The measure complies with European Union working-time regulations, which limit the average week to 48 hours including overtime but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration. Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses However, opposition parties have accused the administration of eroding workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek employees already work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties." The public-sector union said variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation." Recent Workplace Reforms and Economic Context Last year, Greece introduced a six-day working week for specific industries in a bid to boost the economy. New laws, which came into effect at the start of the summer, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of forty. European Work Data and Greek Economic Indicators Throughout the EU in the previous year, the longest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8). The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics. Starting January 2025, the nation's national base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations. Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an European mean of 5.9%, data from Eurostat show. The country is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but salaries and quality of life remain among the lowest in the EU.