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Greece's legislature has approved a disputed work legislation that permits 13-hour work shifts, in the face of fierce opposition and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials asserted the law will modernize the country's labor regulations, but critics from the left-wing faction labeled it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the New Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved law, annual overtime is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek continues as before.

The government insists that the longer shift is voluntary, only applies to the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to 37 days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Opposition

The recent ballot was supported by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right party, with the moderate faction – now the main resistance – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Worker organizations have staged multiple protests calling for the law's repeal this month that brought transportation and public services to a standstill.

Official Justification and Employee Safeguards

A senior official defended the legislation, stating the reforms align national legislation with current labor-market conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

These regulations will provide workers the choice to accept additional hours with the current company for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they cannot be dismissed for declining overtime.

This follows EU labor regulations, which limit the mean workweek to 48 hours counting overtime but permit adjustments over 12 months, according to the government.

Critical Perspectives and Union Responses

However, opposition parties have accused the administration of eroding employee protections and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They say local workers currently work longer hours than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the destruction of personal time and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Reforms and Economic Background

Last year, Greece introduced a six-day working week for certain industries in a bid to boost the economy.

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of July, allow employees to work up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

EU Work Data and National Financial Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, as per Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the bottom group among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in August compared with an EU average of 5.9%, figures from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but salaries and quality of life remain among the poorest in the EU.