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Government Building

The Greek legislature has approved a contentious work legislation that enables 13-hour work shifts, despite widespread opposition and nationwide protests.

Government officials claimed the measure will modernize the country's work laws, but opposition figures from the left-wing party labeled it as a "harmful law."

Main Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved legislation, yearly overtime is also at 150 hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek continues as before.

The government maintains that the extended shift is elective, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's ballot was supported by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – now the main opposition – voting against the bill, while the left-wing party did not vote.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes demanding the bill's withdrawal recently that halted transportation and public services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Employee Protections

A senior official supported the bill, saying the reforms bring in line national laws with current employment realities, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will provide workers the option to accept extra work with the same employer for increased compensation, while ensuring they cannot be fired for declining overtime.

The measure complies with European Union labor rules, which limit the average week to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

However, critics have charged the government of weakening employee protections and "pushing the country back to a labor middle age." They say Greek employees already put in more time than most EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Changes and Economic Background

Last year, the country introduced a six-day working week for certain sectors in a bid to boost the economy.

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

EU Work Data and National Economic Metrics

• Across the EU in the previous year, the highest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's national minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer versus an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in recent years, but salaries and quality of life remain among the lowest in the European Union.