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The Greek parliament has given the green light a hotly debated labor reform that permits extended-length work shifts, in the face of fierce resistance and countrywide strike actions.

The administration claimed the measure will update the country's labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing party described it as a "harmful law."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour week remains in place.

The government maintains that the longer workday is optional, solely affects the business sector, and can only be applied for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

The recent vote was supported by MPs from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left party – now the primary opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Labor unions have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal recently that halted public transport and services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the legislation, stating the reforms bring in line Greek legislation with modern employment conditions, and alleged critics of misleading the citizens.

The laws will give employees the choice to take on additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours.

The measure follows European Union working-time regulations, which limit the average workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit adjustments over a year, as stated by the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Responses

But, critics have charged the government of weakening employee protections and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They argue Greek workers already put in more time than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

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

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Background

In 2024, Greece introduced a six-day working week for specific industries in a bid to boost economic growth.

Recent legislation, which started at the start of July, allow employees to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

European Labor Statistics and National Economic Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in 2024, the longest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• As of this year, the nation's national minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an EU average of 5.9%, data from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the EU.