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Government Building

Greece's parliament has approved a contentious work legislation that enables extended-length work shifts, in the face of widespread resistance and nationwide protests.

Government officials asserted the measure will modernize the country's work laws, but critics from the left-wing party described it as a "harmful law."

Key Elements of the New Work Legislation

According to the freshly approved law, annual extra hours is capped at 150 hours, while the standard 40-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials maintains that the extended shift is elective, only affects the private sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days each year.

Parliamentary Support and Resistance

The recent vote was backed by MPs from the ruling centre-right party, with the centre-left party – currently the main opposition – rejecting the legislation, while the left-wing group abstained.

Labor unions have staged multiple protests calling for the law's repeal this month that brought public transport and services to a stop.

Official Justification and Employee Safeguards

A senior official supported the bill, claiming the reforms align Greek laws with modern labor-market conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the public.

The laws will give employees the choice to accept extra work with the current company for 40% higher pay, while guaranteeing they will not be fired for declining overtime.

This complies with EU working-time rules, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours counting extra hours but permit flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Critical Perspectives and Labor Responses

But, opposition parties have charged the government of eroding workers' rights and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue local workers currently put in more time than most Europeans while earning less and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union stated variable shifts in practice mean "the end of the eight-hour day, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Labor Changes and Economic Context

Last year, Greece enacted a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a attempt to boost the economy.

New legislation, which started at the start of July, permit employees to labor up to 48 hours in a workweek as instead of forty.

EU Labor Data and National Economic Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in the previous year, the longest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria (39.0), Poland (38.9) and Romania.
• The shortest working week in the bloc is in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat.
• As of this year, Greece's official base pay stood at €968 a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Unemployment, which had reached a high at 28% during the financial crisis, was 8.1% in August versus an European mean of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• Greece is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but salaries and quality of life remain among the lowest in the EU.