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The Greek parliament has approved a hotly debated work legislation that authorizes extended-length work shifts, in the face of fierce opposition and countrywide strike actions.

The administration claimed the law will update Greek labor regulations, but opposition figures from the progressive party labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

Under the newly enacted legislation, annual extra hours is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour week stays unchanged.

Officials emphasizes that the longer workday is voluntary, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days annually.

Political Backing and Resistance

Thursday's vote was backed by MPs from the ruling conservative party, with the moderate faction – now the main resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing group did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes demanding the law's repeal this month that brought transportation and public services to a standstill.

Government Justification and Employee Safeguards

The Labor Minister supported the bill, claiming the changes align national legislation with modern labor-market conditions, and accused critics of misleading the public.

The laws will provide workers the option to take on additional hours with the same employer for increased pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for declining extra hours.

This complies with European Union labor regulations, which limit the mean week to forty-eight hours counting overtime but permit flexibility over 12 months, according to the administration.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

However, critics have charged the administration of eroding workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a labor middle age." They argue local workers already put in more time than the majority of Europeans while earning less and still "struggle to make ends meet."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Workplace Reforms and Economic Context

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

New laws, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, allow workers to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

EU Labor Statistics and National Financial Metrics

• Across the EU in the previous year, the highest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics.
• Starting this year, the nation's national base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in August versus an EU average of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which ended in recent years, but wages and quality of life remain among the lowest in the EU.