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Government Building

Greece's legislature has given the green light a hotly debated work legislation that permits 13-hour working days, despite widespread opposition and nationwide strike actions.

The administration asserted the measure will modernize the country's work laws, but critics from the progressive party labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the Recently Passed Labor Law

According to the newly enacted legislation, yearly extra hours is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard 40-hour workweek remains in place.

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

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative party, with the centre-left party – currently the primary opposition – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Labor unions have staged multiple protests demanding the law's repeal recently that halted transportation and public services to a standstill.

Government Defense and Worker Safeguards

A senior official defended the legislation, claiming the changes align national legislation with modern labor-market realities, and alleged critics of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will give workers the option to accept extra work with the same employer for increased compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours.

The measure complies with EU labor regulations, which limit the mean workweek to forty-eight hours including overtime but permit flexibility over 12 months, according to the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Labor Responses

However, opposition parties have charged the administration of weakening employee protections and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They argue Greek workers already work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation."

Recent Labor Changes and Financial Background

Last year, the country introduced a six-day working week for certain sectors in a bid to boost economic growth.

Recent laws, which came into effect at the beginning of July, permit employees to work up to 48 hours in a week as opposed to 40.

European Labor Statistics and Greek Economic Indicators

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• As of this year, Greece's national minimum wage was €968 a month, ranking it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in the summer versus an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in recent years, but wages and living standards continue to be among the poorest in the European Union.