Government Building
Greece's legislature has given the green light a hotly debated work legislation that authorizes 13-hour work shifts, despite widespread resistance and countrywide strike actions.
Government officials stated the law will modernize Greek work laws, but critics from the progressive faction labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."
Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law
Under the freshly approved legislation, yearly overtime is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek continues as before.
Officials insists that the extended shift is elective, only applies to the private sector, and can only be applied for up to thirty-seven days each year.
Parliamentary Support and Opposition
The recent vote was backed by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – currently the primary resistance – voting against the legislation, while the progressive party abstained.
Worker organizations have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal recently that halted public transport and public services to a standstill.
Government Justification and Employee Protections
A senior official defended the bill, saying the changes align national legislation with current labor-market conditions, and accused critics of misinforming the public.
The laws will provide workers the option to accept extra work with the current company for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they will not be fired for declining overtime.
This follows EU working-time regulations, which cap the average week to forty-eight hours including overtime but allow adjustments over 12 months, according to the government.
Opposition Perspectives and Labor Responses
But, critics have charged the government of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue Greek workers currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."
The public-sector union said variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."
Recent Labor Changes and Financial Background
Last year, the country introduced a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to boost the economy.
Recent legislation, which came into effect at the start of the summer, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.
EU Labor Data and National Financial Metrics
- Throughout the EU in the previous year, the longest average hours were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania.
- The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
- As of this year, Greece's official base pay was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
- Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an European mean of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office indicate.
- Greece is improving since its decade-long financial troubles, which ended in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the poorest in the EU.
