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The Greek parliament has approved a disputed labor reform that enables 13-hour working days, in the face of strong resistance and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials claimed the law will update Greek labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the New Labor Law

According to the newly enacted legislation, yearly extra hours is limited at 150 hours, while the standard 40-hour week remains in place.

The government emphasizes that the extended shift is optional, only affects the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative party, with the centre-left faction – currently the main resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing group did not vote.

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

Official Defense and Worker Safeguards

A senior official supported the legislation, stating the changes align national legislation with current labor-market conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will provide employees the choice to accept additional hours with the current company for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for declining extra hours.

This follows European Union working-time regulations, which cap the average workweek to 48 hours including extra hours but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Reactions

But, opposition parties have accused the administration of eroding workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek workers already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Recent Labor Changes and Financial Context

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a attempt to stimulate the economy.

Recent laws, which started at the start of July, allow workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

EU Work Data and Greek Financial Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in 2024, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), according to EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's official base pay stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.