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Government Building

Greece's legislature has approved a contentious labor reform that authorizes extended-length working days, despite strong opposition and countrywide protests.

Government officials stated the law will revamp Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive faction described it as a "harmful law."

Key Provisions of the New Work Legislation

Under the freshly approved legislation, annual extra hours is capped at one hundred and fifty hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek continues as before.

Officials insists that the longer workday is voluntary, only applies to the business sector, and can exclusively be used for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Parliamentary Support and Opposition

The recent ballot was supported by lawmakers from the ruling conservative political group, with the centre-left party – currently the main opposition – rejecting the bill, while the progressive group abstained.

Labor unions have organized multiple protests calling for the law's repeal recently that brought public transport and services to a standstill.

Official Defense and Employee Protections

A senior official supported the bill, stating the reforms bring in line national laws with current employment conditions, and accused opposition leaders of misleading the public.

These regulations will give workers the option to accept additional hours with the same employer for increased pay, while guaranteeing they cannot be dismissed for refusing extra hours.

This follows EU working-time rules, which limit the mean workweek to forty-eight hours counting overtime but allow adjustments over 12 months, as stated by the government.

Opposition Perspectives and Union Responses

However, opposition parties have accused the government of eroding workers' rights and "driving the country back to a labor middle age." They say local workers already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

A major labor organization said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the authorization of excessive labor."

Recent Workplace Changes and Economic Background

Last year, the country introduced a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to stimulate the economy.

Recent legislation, which came into effect at the start of the summer, permit employees to work up to 48 hours in a week as instead of 40.

EU Labor Statistics and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the EU in the previous year, the highest working weeks were observed in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
• The shortest work hours in the bloc is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per EU statistics.
• Starting this year, the nation's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the lower tier among European nations.
• Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was eight point one percent in the summer versus an EU average of 5.9%, figures from Eurostat show.
• The country is recovering since its prolonged debt crisis, which concluded in recent years, but wages and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the EU.