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Government Building

The Greek parliament has given the green light a contentious work legislation that authorizes extended-length working days, despite strong opposition and nationwide strike actions.

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

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law

Under the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government emphasizes that the longer shift is elective, solely applies to the business sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to 37 days each year.

Parliamentary Backing and Resistance

Thursday's ballot was backed by lawmakers from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – currently the main resistance – voting against the bill, while the progressive group abstained.

Labor unions have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal this month that brought public transport and services to a stop.

Government Defense and Employee Protections

The Labor Minister defended the bill, saying the reforms bring in line national legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and alleged critics of misleading the citizens.

The laws will give workers the option to accept additional hours with the same employer for increased pay, while guaranteeing they will not be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

The measure complies with European Union working-time rules, which cap the average workweek to 48 hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, according to the administration.

Opposition Perspectives and Labor Reactions

However, opposition parties have charged the government of eroding employee protections and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They say Greek workers already work longer hours than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization said flexible working hours in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Recent Workplace Changes and Economic Context

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

New laws, which started at the start of the summer, permit workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a week as instead of forty.

European Labor Data and National Economic Indicators

• Across the European Union in 2024, the longest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, the nation's national base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August versus an EU average of five point nine percent, data from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in recent years, but salaries and living standards remain among the lowest in the European Union.