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The Greek parliament has given the green light a disputed work legislation that enables 13-hour working days, in the face of fierce resistance and nationwide protests.

The administration asserted the law will update Greek labor regulations, but critics from the progressive party labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the newly enacted law, yearly extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour week continues as before.

The government emphasizes that the longer shift is voluntary, solely applies to the private sector, and can only be applied for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Opposition

Thursday's vote was supported by lawmakers from the governing centre-right political group, with the centre-left party – currently the primary opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing party abstained.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Official Defense and Worker Protections

The Labor Minister defended the bill, saying the reforms align national laws with current labor-market realities, and alleged opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will give employees the option to accept extra work with the current company for increased pay, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for declining overtime.

The measure complies with European Union working-time regulations, which limit the average workweek to forty-eight hours including extra hours but permit adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the government.

Critical Perspectives and Union Responses

But, opposition parties have accused the administration of weakening workers' rights and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They say local employees currently work longer hours than most Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Labor Reforms and Financial Context

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to stimulate the economy.

New legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, allow workers to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

European Work Statistics and National Financial Metrics

• Across the EU in 2024, the highest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• Starting this year, Greece's national base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an European mean of 5.9%, data from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the poorest in the EU.