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Greece's legislature has approved a contentious work legislation that enables 13-hour working days, in the face of strong opposition and nationwide protests.

Government officials stated the law will modernize Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive faction labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Provisions of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted legislation, annual extra hours is limited at 150 hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials emphasizes that the extended shift is elective, only affects the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

Thursday's ballot was backed by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right party, with the centre-left faction – now the primary opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes calling for the law's repeal recently that halted transportation and services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Worker Safeguards

A senior official supported the bill, stating the reforms align national laws with current labor-market conditions, and alleged critics of misleading the citizens.

These regulations will give employees the option to take on additional hours with the same employer for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for declining extra hours.

The measure complies with European Union working-time rules, which cap the mean workweek to 48 hours counting extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, as stated by the administration.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Responses

But, critics have accused the government of weakening employee protections and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local workers already put in more time than most Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said flexible working hours in practice mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Context

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for certain sectors in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the beginning of July, permit employees to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

EU Labor Data and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in 2024, the longest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's national minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but wages and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.