🔗 Share this article The Greek Parliament Approves Controversial Workplace Legislation Allowing 13-Hour Workdays in Specific Situations Government Building Greece's parliament has ratified a hotly debated work legislation that enables extended-length work shifts, in the face of fierce resistance and countrywide strike actions. Government officials stated the law will modernize Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity." Main Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law According to the newly enacted legislation, annual overtime is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour week continues as before. The government maintains that the extended workday is elective, solely applies to the private sector, and can only be applied for up to 37 days each year. Parliamentary Support and Opposition Thursday's ballot was backed by MPs from the governing centre-right political group, with the moderate faction – now the primary opposition – voting against the bill, while the left-wing party did not vote. Labor unions have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal this month that brought transportation and services to a stop. Official Defense and Employee Safeguards The Labor Minister supported the legislation, claiming the changes align Greek laws with current employment conditions, and accused critics of misinforming the public. These regulations will provide employees the choice to accept extra work with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours. This complies with European Union labor regulations, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours including overtime but allow flexibility over a year, according to the government. Opposition Viewpoints and Labor Reactions However, critics have accused the administration of weakening workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They argue Greek employees 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 legalisation of excessive labor." Previous Workplace Reforms and Economic Context Last year, the country enacted a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to boost the economy. New laws, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, allow workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of 40. European Work Data and National Economic Indicators Throughout the EU in the previous year, the longest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania. The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat. As of this year, Greece's national base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries. Joblessness, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an European mean of 5.9%, data from the statistical office indicate. The country is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which ended in recent years, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the EU.