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Greece's parliament has given the green light a contentious work legislation that enables extended-length working days, in the face of fierce resistance and nationwide protests.

Government officials claimed the law will revamp Greek work laws, but critics from the left-wing faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Key Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved law, yearly overtime is also at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials emphasizes that the extended shift is optional, solely applies to the business sector, and can only be used for up to 37 days each year.

Political Backing and Resistance

The recent ballot was backed by MPs from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – currently the primary resistance – rejecting the bill, while the left-wing party abstained.

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

Official Justification and Employee Safeguards

A senior official supported the legislation, stating the reforms align national laws with modern labor-market realities, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

The laws will give workers the option to accept extra work with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while ensuring they will not be dismissed for declining overtime.

The measure complies with European Union working-time rules, which limit the average workweek to forty-eight hours including overtime but allow flexibility over a year, as stated by the government.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Responses

However, critics have charged the government of weakening employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They say local employees already work longer hours than most Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "struggle to make ends meet."

A major labor organization said flexible working hours in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Workplace Reforms and Economic Background

Last year, the country enacted a six-day working week for certain sectors in a bid to boost the economy.

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of the summer, permit employees to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

European Labor Data and National Economic Metrics

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the longest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), followed by Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per EU statistics.
• Starting January 2025, Greece's official minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the financial crisis, was eight point one percent in the summer compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• Greece is improving since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but wages and quality of life remain among the poorest in the European Union.