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The Greek parliament has given the green light a disputed labor reform that permits extended-length work shifts, in the face of fierce opposition and nationwide strike actions.

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

Key Elements of the New Labor Law

Under the newly enacted law, annual overtime is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

The government emphasizes that the extended workday is elective, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

Thursday's vote was supported by MPs from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left faction – now the main opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal recently that halted public transport and public services to a stop.

Official Defense and Employee Protections

A senior official defended the legislation, stating the changes align national laws with current employment conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

These regulations will provide employees the choice to take on extra work with the current company for increased pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for declining overtime.

This complies with European Union labor regulations, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours including overtime but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

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

A major labor organization stated variable shifts in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Recent Workplace Reforms and Economic Context

In 2024, Greece enacted a six-day working week for specific sectors in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

New laws, which came into effect at the start of the summer, permit employees to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of 40.

EU Labor Data and National Economic Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• Starting January 2025, the nation's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer versus an EU average of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its prolonged financial troubles, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.