ð Share this article Greece Enacts Controversial Workplace Legislation Allowing 13-Hour Working Days in Specific Cases Government Building Greece's parliament has ratified a disputed labor reform that enables extended-length work shifts, despite fierce opposition and nationwide strike actions. The administration asserted the measure will modernize the country's work laws, but critics from the progressive party described it as a "regulatory disaster." Main Provisions of the Recently Passed Labor Law Under the freshly approved legislation, yearly extra hours is capped at 150 hours, while the standard forty-hour workweek continues as before. Officials insists that the extended workday is elective, only affects the private sector, and can exclusively be applied for up to 37 days annually. Political Support and Opposition Thursday's ballot was supported by MPs from the ruling centre-right party, with the moderate faction â now the main resistance â rejecting the legislation, while the progressive group abstained. Worker organizations have organized two general strikes calling for the law's repeal recently that brought transportation and public services to a standstill. Official Defense and Employee Safeguards A senior official supported the bill, claiming the reforms bring in line Greek laws with modern employment conditions, and alleged opposition leaders of misinforming the citizens. The laws will provide employees the choice to take on extra work with the same employer for 40% higher compensation, while guaranteeing they cannot be fired for refusing extra hours. This follows EU working-time regulations, which limit the average workweek to 48 hours counting extra hours but allow flexibility over 12 months, according to the administration. Critical Perspectives and Union Responses But, critics have charged the administration of eroding employee protections and "driving the nation back to a medieval work era." They argue local workers already put in more time than the majority of EU citizens while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties." The public-sector union stated variable shifts in practice mean "the abolition of the eight-hour day, the disruption of family and social life and the legalisation of over-exploitation." Recent Workplace Changes and Financial Background Last year, the country introduced a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a bid to stimulate economic growth. Recent legislation, which started at the start of the summer, permit employees to work up to 48 hours in a week as instead of forty. European Work Statistics and Greek Financial Metrics Throughout the EU in the previous year, the longest working weeks were recorded in the Hellenic Republic, then Bulgaria, Poland and Romania. The lowest work hours in the union is in the Netherlands, as per EU statistics. Starting this year, the nation's official minimum wage stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, placing it in the bottom group among EU countries. Unemployment, which had peaked at twenty-eight percent during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer versus an EU average of five point nine percent, data from Eurostat indicate. The country is recovering since its decade-long debt crisis, which concluded in 2018, but salaries and living standards continue to be among the lowest in the European Union.