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Greece's legislature has approved a hotly debated labor reform that permits extended-length working days, in the face of widespread resistance and countrywide protests.

Government officials claimed the law will revamp the country's labor regulations, but critics from the progressive faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Elements of the New Labor Law

According to the freshly approved law, annual overtime is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour week remains in place.

The government maintains that the longer workday is voluntary, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be implemented for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Political Support and Opposition

Thursday's vote was backed by MPs from the governing centre-right party, with the centre-left faction – now the main resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing party abstained.

Labor unions have organized two general strikes calling for the law's repeal recently that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Government Defense and Employee Safeguards

A senior official supported the legislation, saying the changes align national legislation with current employment realities, and accused critics of misinforming the citizens.

The laws will give workers the choice to accept extra work with the current company for increased pay, while guaranteeing they will not be fired for refusing extra hours.

This follows EU working-time rules, which cap the average workweek to forty-eight hours counting overtime but permit adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Critical Viewpoints and Labor Responses

But, opposition parties have charged the government of weakening workers' rights and "pushing the nation back to a labor middle age." They say local employees currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

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

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Background

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

New laws, which came into effect at the beginning of July, permit employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to 40.

EU Labor Data and National Economic Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the highest working weeks were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania.
• The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, Greece's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August compared with an European mean of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office show.
• Greece is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but wages and quality of life continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.