🔗 Share this article The Greek Parliament Enacts Controversial Labor Law Allowing Longer Working Days in Specific Cases Government Building The Greek parliament has ratified a contentious labor reform that permits extended-length working days, despite widespread resistance and nationwide strike actions. The administration claimed the law will modernize the country's work laws, but critics from the progressive party described it as a "harmful law." Key Elements of the New Work Legislation According to the freshly approved legislation, yearly extra hours is also at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek stays unchanged. Officials insists that the longer workday is voluntary, solely affects the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days annually. Parliamentary Backing and Opposition The recent vote was supported by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left faction – currently the main resistance – voting against the bill, while the left-wing party abstained. Labor unions have organized multiple protests demanding the bill's withdrawal recently that brought transportation and public services to a standstill. Government Justification and Worker Safeguards A senior official supported the legislation, stating the reforms bring in line national laws with current employment conditions, and accused critics of misleading the public. These regulations will give workers the option to take on extra work with the current company for increased compensation, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for declining overtime. This complies with EU working-time rules, which limit the mean week to 48 hours including extra hours but allow adjustments over a year, as stated by the government. Critical Viewpoints and Union Reactions However, opposition parties have charged the government of weakening workers' rights and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They argue local workers currently put in more time than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties." A major labor organization said variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of personal time and the legalisation of over-exploitation." Recent Labor Reforms and Financial Context Last year, the country introduced a six-day working week for certain industries in a bid to boost economic growth. Recent laws, which came into effect at the beginning of July, permit workers to work up to 48 hours in a week as instead of forty. EU Labor Statistics and National Financial Metrics Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in Greece (39.8 hours), then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland and Romania (38.8). The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat. Starting this year, the nation's official base pay stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations. Unemployment, which had reached a high at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August versus an EU average of five point nine percent, figures from Eurostat show. Greece is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but wages and quality of life remain among the poorest in the European Union.