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Government Building

Greece's parliament has approved a contentious labor reform that enables 13-hour working days, despite widespread opposition and countrywide protests.

The administration asserted the law will update Greek labor regulations, but critics from the progressive faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Elements of the New Labor Law

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

The government emphasizes that the longer workday is elective, only affects the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

Thursday's vote was backed by MPs from the governing centre-right party, with the moderate party – now the primary opposition – rejecting the bill, while the progressive party abstained.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted public transport and services to a stop.

Government Defense and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister defended the legislation, saying the changes align Greek legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will give workers the choice to accept additional hours with the same employer for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for refusing overtime.

The measure complies with European Union working-time rules, which cap the average week to 48 hours counting extra hours but permit adjustments over a year, as stated by the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Responses

But, opposition parties have accused the administration of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local employees currently put in more time than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Background

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

Recent legislation, which started at the beginning of July, permit workers to labor up to 48 hours in a week as instead of 40.

EU Work Statistics and Greek Financial Metrics

• Throughout the EU in 2024, the highest average hours were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an European mean of 5.9%, data from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and living standards remain among the lowest in the EU.