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Government Building

Greece's parliament has ratified a hotly debated labor reform that permits extended-length work shifts, in the face of widespread resistance and nationwide protests.

The administration asserted the measure will update the country's labor regulations, but critics from the progressive party labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved legislation, annual extra hours is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour week continues as before.

The government insists that the longer shift is elective, solely affects the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days annually.

Political Support and Resistance

The recent ballot was supported by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the moderate party – currently the primary opposition – rejecting the bill, while the progressive group abstained.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal recently that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Official Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the legislation, saying the reforms align national laws with current labor-market realities, and accused critics of misinforming the public.

These regulations will give workers the choice to accept additional hours with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they will not be fired for declining overtime.

The measure follows EU working-time regulations, which limit the mean week to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, as stated by the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Labor Reactions

However, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They say Greek employees currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated variable shifts in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of over-exploitation."

Recent Labor Reforms and Financial Context

Last year, Greece introduced a six-day working week for specific sectors in a bid to stimulate economic growth.

Recent legislation, which started at the start of July, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

EU Work Data and National Financial Metrics

• Across the European Union in the previous year, the highest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• Starting this year, Greece's national minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which ended in recent years, but wages and living standards remain among the lowest in the EU.