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Greece's legislature has given the green light a disputed labor reform that authorizes extended-length working days, in the face of strong resistance and nationwide strike actions.

Government officials asserted the measure will update the country's work laws, but critics from the progressive faction described it as a "regulatory disaster."

Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved legislation, annual extra hours is limited at one hundred and fifty hours, while the regular 40-hour workweek remains in place.

Officials insists that the longer workday is voluntary, solely affects the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Political Support and Resistance

Thursday's vote was backed by lawmakers from the governing conservative party, with the moderate faction – currently the primary opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group did not vote.

Worker organizations have staged two general strikes calling for the law's repeal this month that halted public transport and services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Employee Safeguards

A senior official defended the bill, stating the changes bring in line national laws with modern labor-market conditions, and accused critics of misinforming the public.

These regulations will provide employees the option to take on additional hours with the current company for increased pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for refusing overtime.

The measure follows European Union labor rules, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over a year, according to the administration.

Opposition Viewpoints and Union Reactions

However, opposition parties have accused the administration of weakening employee protections and "pushing the country back to a medieval work era." They argue local employees currently put in more time than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said flexible working hours in reality mean "the end of the standard workday, the disruption of personal time and the authorization of excessive labor."

Previous Labor Changes and Financial Background

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day working week for certain industries in a attempt to stimulate the economy.

New legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of July, permit workers to labor up to forty-eight hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

EU Labor Data and National Economic Indicators

• Across the EU in the previous year, the longest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to EU statistics.
• As of January 2025, the nation's national minimum wage was nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in August compared with an European mean of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat indicate.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged financial troubles, which ended in 2018, but salaries and living standards remain among the lowest in the EU.