Factory workers, cashiers and hotel staff in Greece could soon be working longer shifts, with the country set to become the first EU member to officially introduce a 13-hour workday for the private sector.
Parliament is set to vote on the controversial legislation on Wednesday, amid planned nationwide protest rallies. Despite growing pushback from unions and opposition parties, the bill is expected to pass comfortably with the votes of the ruling New Democracy party.
Since taking power in 2019, the center-right government has transformed the country’s labor market into what it hails as one of the most “flexible” in Europe. Starting in July 2024, employees in industry, retail, agriculture and some service sectors can be asked to work a new six-day schedule, with an extra 40 percent paid on top of their regular wage for the sixth working day. The move, a shift against a trend toward shorter working weeks in some European countries, was deemed necessary due to Greece’s aging and shrinking population and a major shortage of skilled workers.
Greece was gripped by a general strike on Tuesday, the second this month, as unions demanded the withdrawal of the new legislation. Most public transport and public services were brought to a standstill amid mass protests.
“Flexible working hours” in practice means “the abolition of the eight-hour workday, the destruction of every concept of family and social life and the legalization of overexploitation,” the public sector union, ADEDY, said in a statement.
The new legislation stipulates that employees can work up to 13 hours per day on no more than 37.5 days per year, with a maximum limit of 48 hours per week, based on a four-month average and maximum overtime of 150 hours. But the 40-hour workweek continues to be the rule, and overtime in general is to be better compensated, with a 40 percent bonus.
The 13-hour workday should be voluntary with no employee obliged to work overtime, the Labor Ministry has said. But unions have argued that employers have the upper hand in this negotiation, particularly in a country with almost no tradition of workplace inspections.
The legislation would also introduce an option for annual leave to be fragmented into more than two parts throughout the year, flexible weekly schedules, two-day contracts and fast-track hiring via an app, all in order to fulfill “urgent company needs,” the draft legislation says.
Greece’s economy has rebounded since its decade-long financial crisis, which started with the 2009 debt crisis and was followed by three bailout programs that lasted until 2018. The unemployment rate, which during the crisis reached a staggering 28 percent, was at 8.1 percent in August, the latest month for which figures available. The EU average stood at 5.9 percent.
However, there has been no convergence with the EU on the rest of the data: Salaries remain among the lowest in the bloc, which means many Greeks are forced to work two jobs to cover the soaring cost of living, in particular high housing costs. The country is second to last in the EU when it comes to purchasing power, with nearly half of households unable to afford basic necessities, according to a 2024 report by the European Committee of Social Rights.
One in five Greeks works more than 45 hours a week, the highest rate in the European Union, according to Eurostat data published earlier this month. According to OECD data, Greece ranked fifth worldwide in terms of annual working hours in 2023, behind only Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile.
New labor rules will give ‘boost to the private sector’
Labor Minister Niki Kerameus of the New Democracy Party strongly supports the new legislation, arguing that it “gives a boost to the private sector” and “strengthens the employees.”
“The expression ’13-hour workday’ implies that we will all work 13 hours every day, all year round. Is this true? Can it happen every day? No, is the answer. It can happen up to 37 days a year, or three days a month. Secondly, it requires the employee’s agreement,” she told Skai TV in an interview on Tuesday.
Kerameus has repeatedly stressed that an employee cannot be laid off for refusing to accept the new rules, added that with unemployment levels at a “17-year low […], you can understand how much this strengthens the position of the employee.”
But opponents of the new law, including Dimitrios Mantzos, a lawmaker with the main opposition socialist Pasok party, called out the government in parliament on Tuesday for deregulating labor relations, heightening job insecurity and disrupting work-life balance.
“The mere fact that we are here discussing such a bill is unacceptable, it is shameful, it is backward,” said Efi Achtsioglou, an MP with the New Left party. “It is unthinkable that in 2025 we are still debating whether to legislate a 13-hour work day.”
Labor market experts have said the move would legalize labor rights violations that have been committed by employers in terms of overtime work and will lead to burnout and increased accidents. The legislation has been repeatedly condemned by employee representatives.
“These regulations exacerbate job insecurity and reinforce the model of flexible and unprotected work,” Greece’s main private sector union, the Greek General Confederation of Labour, said in a letter to Kerameus in late September.
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